Can You Sue Someone for the Loss of Enjoyment of Life?

Filing a personal injury suit is a way to claim compensation for economic damages such as lost wages, medical expenses, rehabilitation and therapy fees, and property damages. However, injuries can also leave damages that cannot be measured economically. People who have been injured in car accidents caused by the negligence of others can often experience pain and suffering in the form of psychological and emotional trauma aside from physical trauma. 

New York law has provisions allowing the injured party to seek compensation for these non-economic damages.  The process of calculating pain and suffering after a car accident is not as clear-cut compared to filing a claim for economic damages. If you have been injured in a car accident caused by the negligence of another party, an experienced New York City car accident attorney may be able to assist you in getting compensated for the economic and non-economic damages you have experienced. 

Kucher Law Group, led by top-rated Manhattan personal injury attorney Samantha Kucher, offers quality legal representation to help New Yorkers move forward after their accidents. You don’t have to face this alone. Contact us today at (929) 274 8000 to schedule a free consultation.

Loss of Enjoyment of Life Explained

Loss of enjoyment of life is a legal term that refers to the severity of the impact an injury caused in a victim’s life. When a person experiences an accident that results in injuries that prevent them from having the quality of life they had before the injury, they can experience a loss of enjoyment of life. These types of injuries can often be debilitating or affect the ability of the injured party to engage in the activities they enjoyed before the accident. Common types of injuries that cause enjoyment of life include the following:

Chronic Pain

While pain in most injuries can ease as the patient recovers, it can continue to persist in instances where nerves are damaged or for some other medical reasons. Pain is a stimulus that helps alert the body to dangers such as injury but when the injury has healed and pain becomes a chronic stimulus, it can cause severe stress. Even if the chronic pain is not severe, it can still cause a person to have psychological and emotional trauma. Although their physical injuries have healed, a person experiencing chronic pain can suffer from sleep disruption, behavioral changes, depression, and anxiety. If not managed appropriately, their condition can also affect how they interact with others, regardless of personal or professional relationships.

Head and Brain Injuries

Head and brain injuries in general have a propensity for causing complications. In some cases symptoms of head injuries can take time to develop causing the injured party to think that the injury is not severe. For concussions and traumatic brain injuries, the risks to the injured party’s health can include severe migraine, nausea, swelling of the brain, loss of balance and other motor functions, and cognitive impairment. 

Disfigurement

Injuries that cause disfigurement such as burns can cause a severe psychological impact on the injured party, especially if the scars or the disfigurement are in a highly visible part of the body such as the face. While therapy and plastic surgery can help, disfigurement can affect a person’s self-esteem and confidence. However, the impact of disfigurement is not only aesthetic or psychological, scar tissue can cause limited mobility and greatly impact how a person approaches their daily activities.

Loss of Vision, Hearing, or Speech

Losing the ability to see, hear, or speak can be a traumatic experience. Even losing just one of those senses can negatively impact how a person can take care of themselves. For injured persons who have lost their sense of sight, they would have to completely recalibrate how they go about in the world and it can take time until they can live independently.

Loss of vision, hearing, or speech can also affect a person’s career prospects and how they make a living. A person who can once take care of themselves may become reliant on technology or their loved ones just to get by. This challenging transition can cause injured parties to develop depression.

Spinal Cord Injuries

Spinal cord injuries can cause paralysis and loss of motor control. Depending on the type of spinal injury, a person can lose the ability to walk or control their whole body. Despite the improvements in rehabilitative medicine, it can still take a person a long time to recover some mobility and not all can recover to the level they had before the injury. Such injuries can leave an injured person not able to experience or enjoy any activities they previously did before their accident.

Soft Tissue, Musculoskeletal Injuries, and Amputations

Damages to soft tissues such as ligaments, tendons, and muscles, and fractures can cause a decrease in motor function. The loss of limbs can also be a traumatic event and require a person to undergo rehabilitation and therapy to adapt to their new condition. The person can also experience a period of dependence on others’ help that may also affect them emotionally and psychologically. 

How is Loss of Enjoyment of Life Calculated?

Loss of enjoyment of life is non-economic damage, meaning that it cannot be measured through empirical means. Calculating loss of enjoyment of life involves estimating the effect the injury or the consequences of the injury has caused on the person’s life. The jury can consider the following factors in determining the estimate:

• The age of the injured party
• The injured party’s educational background, work history, and other professional opportunities
• The severity of the injuries sustained
• The future consequences of the injuries on the person’s life
• The nature of the activities the injured party can no longer engage in

There are no receipts or physical documents that may help validate the loss. However, the testimony of the people close to the injured party as well as the expert testimony of therapists or other field specialists can also corroborate the facts.

Just as a person can file a claim for compensation on medical expenses for physical injuries they sustained in a car accident, injured parties can file a claim for the emotional and psychological damages that they incurred. It is important to remember that just because they are not visible, it does not mean that these damages do not exist. They are real and measurable. 

For accidents caused by the negligence of others which may have been preventable, it is even more crucial to pursue compensation as circumstances could have been different if the accident had not happened. By including compensation for loss of enjoyment of life in a personal injury suit, the injured person can receive the financial resources they need to adapt to their new circumstances and find new activities that they can enjoy.

The Importance of Working with an Experienced New York City Car Accident Attorney

Compensation for non-economic damages such as loss of enjoyment of life is often overlooked but they remain to be an important part of personal injury claims. Recovery after a car accident should not only involve the physical aspect of a person’s welfare but also their mental and emotional well-being.

Top-rated Manhattan car accident lawyer Samantha Kucher understands the gravity of pursuing negligent parties for physical damages as well as damages for a person’s pain and suffering. An injured person should not have to face the double burden of physical and emotional trauma. Our team of personal injury attorneys works hard to deliver tailored legal solutions to parties who have been hurt due to the negligence of others. You don’t have to face this alone. Contact us today at (929) 274 8000 to schedule a free consultation.

from Kucher Law https://www.rrklawgroup.com/can-you-sue-someone-for-the-loss-of-enjoyment-of-life/