Emotional Distress

Emotional distress is a tort states of recent origin for intentional conduct that fallout in great emotional distress. Some commentators and courts have substituted mental for emotional, but the tort is the same. Some jurisdiction refers to emotional distress as the tort of annoyance. It is more and more popular basis for a claim of damages in court cases for injury due to the carelessness or intentional acts of another. Originally damages for affecting distress were only awardable in combination with damages for actual physical harm. In sexual harassment claims, emotional distress can be the most important, or even only, harmful result. In most jurisdictions, emotional distress cannot be claimed for violation of contract or other business activity, but can be alleged in cases of libel and slander. Evidentiary troubles include the detail that such distress is easily feigned or exaggerated, and professional testimony by a therapist or psychiatrist may be necessary to authenticate the subsistence and depth of the distress and place a dollar value upon it.