Can I Sue My School for Emotional Distress?

School should be a safe and protected environment. While the overwhelming majority of teachers, administrators, and school workers do an excellent job and deeply care for their students, incidents of negligence do occasionally occur. If you experienced a traumatic incident at your school, such as verbal or physical violence, you could have legal recourse and collect damages for your emotional injuries. 

Psychological trauma can impact a victim negatively for the rest of their life. If the school was at fault or did nothing to prevent your emotional and physical injuries, you can potentially sue your school for emotional distress. Compensation could include medical and counseling expenses, awards for loss of life quality, and other damages. 

While filing a lawsuit for emotional distress alone can be tricky if you have no accompanying physical injuries, it is not impossible. Morgan & Morgan could help. Get America’s largest personal injury firm on your side today and contact us for a free case review. 

What Is Emotional Distress?

Mental anguish and emotional distress are legal terms describing an individual’s psychological injury. Generally, emotional distress occurs when a person experiences a traumatic incident or accident, for example, a violent attack, sexual assault, or shooting. If you experienced emotional distress in school and someone else is responsible, you could file a personal injury lawsuit and pursue compensation. 

While it is normal to focus on physical injuries when we get hurt, severe emotional distress can devastate lives. Recovering from mental anguish can take much longer than recovering from physical injuries and could limit your life enjoyment considerably. Ongoing medical treatments and therapy for emotional injuries can result in high costs. 

Symptoms of Emotional Distress

Emotional distress affects each individual differently. Therefore, there could be many different symptoms of psychological suffering, such as a change in character, isolation, and neglecting self-care. Other symptoms that are commonly seen in those suffering from emotional distress include: 

Anxiety

Severe anxiety can spill over into all aspects of your life. If you were attacked or bullied at school, anxious thoughts can keep you from performing academically and cause a variety of physical problems, such as insomnia and panic attacks. Victims with severe anxiety may be too afraid to leave their homes. 

Guilt and Humiliation

When you feel emotional anguish due to an incident or accident at school, you might blame yourself, thinking that you could somehow have avoided the incident. Victims of sexual assault, for example, may feel shame and humiliation after the incident.

Depression

If you got hurt physically and mentally due to an incident at school, you might feel helpless and frightened. You may be afraid to go back to school and feel low, potentially leading to depression or even suicidal thoughts. 

This list of symptoms and effects of emotional distress is not exhaustive, and there can be many other examples of how psychological injuries impact a victim. 

Can Emotional Distress Cause Physical Conditions?

According to research published by the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), emotional anguish can potentially aggravate several physical illnesses, including: 

• Migraines
• Coronary heart disease
• Ulcers and other gastrointestinal diseases
• Asthma
• Allergies
• Stomach and body pains

While evidence for a link between stress and cancer has not been proven with absolute certainty, research suggests that a connection is highly likely. Animal experiments have shown a clear link between stress and the growth rate of cancerous tumors.

Suing a School

Whether you can sue your school for emotional distress will depend on the facts of your case and state laws. If you suffered a physical and emotional injury due to a school’s negligence, you could have a case. However, if you intend to sue for emotional distress alone, you may not always be able to do so. In most U.S. states, you will only succeed if you also suffered physical harm in the incident that caused emotional distress. 

Even in those states where you can sue a school based on emotional distress alone, you could have a tough case. All public schools and some private schools enjoy some immunity from lawsuits. However, while getting the justice and compensation you deserve can be challenging, it is not impossible. Examples of cases that could lead to lawsuits against a school can include:

Assaults and Attacks on Campus

If you experienced an assault on a college campus, you could potentially file suit against the school. A college could be liable for your damages if:

• The college lacked adequate safety measures such as sufficient lighting, fences and gates, and others.
• The assailant was a college employee.
• College management protected the perpetrator.
• The college did not respond to the assault.

There could also be other circumstances where a college could be liable for a student’s injuries and damages. 

Bullying

According to stopbullying.com, 20 percent of students aged 12-18 experience bullying in the U.S.  Bullying is far from harmless and can lead to isolation, feelings of despair, and depression. In some cases, persistent bullying resulted in suicides and attempted suicides. If a student experiences persistent bullying and the school ignores the issue, you could sue.

What Is Bullying?

Bullying can be verbal or physical, and perpetrators either intend to intimidate or injure a student. Examples of bullying can include:

• Harassment based on ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, or gender 
• Physically attacking a student 
• Spreading rumors intended to upset, harm, or defame a student
• Cyberbullying on social media

Negligence

A school, just like other property owners, is responsible for keeping the buildings and grounds adequately maintained and free from hazards. If a student suffered an injury due to the school’s negligence, you could have a case.

School Shootings 

School shootings can be devastating for students, parents, and the wider community. Even if not physically injured, students could suffer great anguish and emotional trauma after witnessing a shooting. Lawsuits arising from school shootings are generally based on negligence and could have several defendants such as administrators, security officers, and others. 

A notable school shooting lawsuit was filed early in 2022 by victims of the 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, Florida. The plaintiffs, former students, allege negligence of the school board and several other defendants. The victims say they are suffering from mental anguish and trauma due after witnessing the incident and allege that the school should have done more to keep them safe. The high school had recorded 50 separate incidents involving the shooter prior to the devastating shooting in 2018. 

Morgan & Morgan Can Help Today

Children and young adults should be safe and protected in schools and colleges. However, if you suffered physical or emotional injuries, Morgan & Morgan could help you fight for justice and compensation. Our compassionate and determined personal injury lawyers can assess your case, determine your options, and move forward with a claim on your behalf. 

Damages You Could Recover

Emotional distress can cause financial and other damages. Victims may not be able to attend school, job training, or work while they are suffering from emotional trauma, potentially leading to loss of income. Moreover, a victim may have steep medical and counseling bills due to their psychological injuries. Damages you could receive for emotional anguish and other injuries can include:

• Medical bills
• Expenses for psychological therapy
• Lost wages
• Awards for pain and anguish
• Loss of life enjoyment

While economic damages such as loss of wages and medical bills are easy to prove, putting a price on your emotional suffering can be challenging. Therefore, consider working with an experienced personal injury lawyer at Morgan & Morgan. We know how to calculate the true value of your emotional distress and can gather the relevant evidence to prove the extent of your suffering and losses in court.