California  |  Personal Injury

Emotional Schock claim

In addition to a claim for physical injury, there are certain instances in which a plaintiff can press a claim for emotional injury of a serious nature. Without going into which scenarios do and don't qualify and why, suffice it to say that witnessing the death of a loved one as your father evidently did would probably be an appropriate instance for bringing such a claim.

The "two claims" you describe are actually claims for two injuries your father sustained at the dsame time. Just as you can simultaneously break an arm and a jaw, you can also simultaneously have physical and emotional injuries. You are correct that there is some resistance to this type of emotional distress claim due to concerns about fraud -- this is why the line is drawn at people who actually witness the death of immediate family members (you generally can't make such a claim for coming to the scene after the fact or for witnessing the death of a friend). There is no "advantage" to pursuing one instead of the other because they are not mutually exclusive -- if he suffered two types of injury he is able to seek redress for both.

Your father's reluctance to seek counseling will affect the portion of the damages related to the cost of treatment, but he may still be able to collect for emotional distress. He just won't be able to collect for any distress the jury feels he could have avoided by going through counseling.

The problem I see is that you say State Farm has already tendered the policy limits. If so, I don't see how you expect to get any more money from them. A policy limit is just that -- the company isn't obligated to pay more, unless something in the policy says that the limits wouldn't apply to a situation like this.

It sounds like you already have an attorney (after all, you found Dillon v. Legg and are bringing a suit on that basis) so he/she should be able to explain all of this to you and apply it to the specifics of your case.