Can you sue for stress, anxiety, depression?

Sarah_77

Hi,

I am hearing different opinions on when you can sue for stress and when you cant.

Taking a case is stressful enough but what about sleepless nights, anxiety, depression cause by the fault of another person/company?

How is this measured?

Who is best suited to quantify such professionally for court?

Thank you in advance

Peregrinus

Professionally, you'll need doctors to give evidence as to the injury to your health, and you'll need lawyers to help you demonstrate that the injury to your health was caused by the negligence of another person.

dennyk

It's not impossible, but it can be a high bar. You'd have to prove that the person or company in question acted negligently or maliciously and that you directly suffered some form of injury as a result. Mental injuries are injuries, but they would generally have to be specific serious mental illnesses diagnosed by a medical professional and directly attributable to the actions or negligence of the other party, not just your feeling upset, unhappy, worried, or stressed. This site has some more detail on the subject and a number of example cases.

Oscar_Madison

Would these not be considered secondary factors to the primary reason you’re suing?

Say you’re suing due to I dunno, a slip trip or fall that left you temporarily incapacitated - you’ll be suing whoever or whatever for the injury, recovery time, long term impact, loss of income etc - if this fall can be attributed to your decline in mental health (illustrated through doctors reports) then yes it’s possible.

If it’s a work situation, then you’ll likely be suing for something like bullying in the workplace, the symptoms and impact then being what you describe - again documented medically .
Not sure if that answers the question