Sue a Hotel for Emotional Distress
In general, you can sue a hotel for emotional distress as long as you can prove that the hotel’s negligence was the reason for your condition. While you’re on vacation or traveling, you should be able to trust that the hotel will provide you with a safe experience. If it does not, and you get hurt, the hotel could be liable for the damages you suffer. Both your economic and non-economic damages could be compensable in a lawsuit against a hotel. That includes damages like medical expenses and emotional distress. Call us at (954) 633-8270 to get started on your case with our personal injury lawyer.
Understanding Emotional Distress Before You Sue a Hotel
Often used interchangeably with the term mental anguish, emotional distress is mental suffering that results from a particular event, pattern of occurrences, or condition. It is an extreme level of unpleasant emotional reaction. Emotional distress is usually triggered by traumatic events or circumstances. According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), emotionally distressed people typically experience changes in personality, normal function, and even physical responses.
Examples of emotional distress include:
- Depression
- Anxiety
- Loss of appetite
- Insomnia or other sleep disturbances
- Withdrawing socially
- Fear or paranoia
- Grief or sadness
- Feeling of helplessness, hopelessness, or despair
- Post-traumatic stress disorder
- Constant worry
- Suicidal thoughts
- Fatigue
- Anger or aggression
- Humiliation
- Inability to concentrate or think clearly
Emotional Distress Is a Non-Economic Damage in a Hotel Injury Case
When you sue a hotel, you have the opportunity to recover economic and non-economic damages. Economic damages are the financial losses you suffered, while non-economic damages are your intangible losses. Emotional distress is a type of non-economic loss. It does not have an intrinsic financial value.
However, that doesn’t mean you can’t recover compensation for it. There are some losses that result from an accident or injury that you cannot quantify. In any case, the impact on your life can be just as great. The law recognizes this and allows personal injury victims to seek damages for non-economic losses, not just financial losses.
A Fort Lauderdale hotel accident lawyer can assign a monetary value to your emotional distress. They will investigate your case and listen to statements from you and your friends and family. Some people who suffer emotional distress may experience physical sickness or decreased ability to perform their usual tasks, according to the Legal Information Institute. Your lawyer can use information like this in your case.
Proving You Suffered Emotional Distress Due to Hotel Negligence
You can sue a hotel for negligence. If you were hurt in an accident or incident that occurred at a hotel, it is unlikely that the hotel meant to harm you, but the hotel may have been negligent. For instance, the hotel may have hired inadequate security, a front desk staff member gave a copy of your key card to a stranger accidentally, or your hotel room door was not secure despite the appearance of being locked.
To file a lawsuit against a hotel for emotional distress, you’ll need to prove their liability. You can do this by satisfying the four elements of negligence. They are:
- Duty of Care: The hotel owed you a duty of care and had a responsibility to keep you safe or prevent your harm.
- Breach of Duty: The hotel failed to fulfill the duty of care you were owed.
- Causation: The hotel’s negligence was the direct cause of your emotional harm.
- Damages: The accident caused you to suffer damages, such as emotional distress.
Challenges of Suing a Hotel for Emotional Distress
It’s not always easy to prove you’ve suffered emotional distress after an injury or accident since this type of harm is not readily visible or measurable. Emotional distress is usually easier to substantiate when it is the result of physical trauma. For example, if you hurt your back, you could sue for emotional distress derived from your back injury. Perhaps the injury led to depression or hopelessness that you may never regain your full mobility.
Purely emotional injuries may be viewed with an eye of skepticism. Many people turn to a personal injury lawyer for help with these cases.
How an Injury Lawyer Can Help You Sue a Hotel for Emotional Distress
A hotel injury lawyer has experience handling cases that involve emotional distress. Your personal injury attorney in Fort Lauderdale can:
- Gather evidence to prove the hotel’s negligence
- Hire experts in mental health care and medicine to validate your claim for pain and suffering
- Compile documentation and testimony from your family, friends, co-workers, or employers to support your case
Contact Us for Help Suing a Hotel for Emotional Distress
Call the Law Offices of Wolf & Pravato for help with your personal injury case against a hotel. If you were injured due to the hotel’s negligence, you can sue for the damages you’ve suffered, including emotional distress. Call us today for a free case review at (954) 633-8270.
