Personal Injury / Psychological Injury / Emotional Damages

Personal injury litigation is based on tort law which delineates four criteria for determining if a personal injury entitles the plaintiff to compensation from the defendant. These criteria are as follows:

  1. the defendant must have a clear and specific duty or obligation to the plaintiff,
  2. there must have been some demonstrable dereliction or breach of that duty by act of omission or commission by the defendant,
  3. the plaintiff must give evidence of some damage or disability that demonstrates a decrease in the plaintiff's level of functioning or peace of mind from an earlier point in time, and
  4. there is good reason to believe that the plaintiff's damage or disability was the result of or exacerbated by the defendant's dereliction of duty and was therefore the proximate cause of the damage.

In cases of personal injury, a psychologist may be retained by the defense or plaintiff's counsel in order to essentially answer the following questions:

  1. Does the person being evaluated have a psychological injury, and if so, what is the extent of this injury?
  2. How much of the injury present is most likely attributable to the event that allegedly caused it?

Psychologists performing personal injury evaluations should be familiar with relevant case law and malingering assessment. Personal injury evaluations may include, but are not limited to the following:

  • Review of relevant records regarding proximal event and plaintiff's pre- and post-injury functioning (e.g., medical and psychological treatment records)
  • Background information: social history, psychiatric/ psychological history, medical history, employment history, substance abuse history
  • Clinical interview(s) with plaintiff
  • Mental Status Exam
  • Plaintiff's statement regarding the event/ proximate cause of the damage/ disability and alleged subsequent damage/ disability from the event
  • Psychological testing relevant to alleged injury (e.g., measures regarding cognitive functioning when brain injury is reported) and other factors that may contribute to the impairment (e.g., personality assessment)
  • Trauma/ PTSD assessment
  • Malingering assessment*
  • Interview(s) with collateral sources (e.g., spouse) regarding the event/ proximate cause of the damage/ disability, plaintiff's functioning pre- and post-injury
  • Summary and formulation of collected data
  • Diagnostic impressions and (if found) level of impairment in relevant areas and review of factors (e.g., personality functioning) which may contribute to the disability
  • Review of treatment, determination as to whether past treatment was sufficient, and recommendations regarding further treatment and plaintiff's amenability to treatment and prognosis

* In cases of personal injury, malingering is routinely investigated by the evaluator and additional objective testing may be conducted at the discretion of the evaluator to confirm/ disconfirm a diagnosis of malingering