In a personal injury case, you are entitled to request compensation for all types of losses related to the accident and your injuries. That includes your monetary losses (economic) as well as your more subjective mental and emotional pain, suffering, and distress (non-economic losses).
Missing a special event could certainly fall under both economic and non-economic categories of damages. Think of a missed three-week vacation to Europe for example, when the injured plaintiff can't recover non-refundable airfare and/or must pay a hefty fee for cancelling pre-paid hotel reservations. If a personal injury lawsuit goes all the way to trial, a jury could factor that in when it calculates the plaintiff's economic damages as well as his/her "pain and suffering." The monetary piece is fairly straightforward (the plaintiff would just need to present documentation of his/her out-of-pocket losses). But let’s take a closer look at the "pain and suffering" side of missing a special event due to an accident or injury.
Mental and emotional pain and suffering can be called different things in different states, but generally this category of personal injury damages includes mental anguish, emotional distress, loss of enjoyment of life, fear, anger, humiliation, anxiety, and shock -- basically any kind of negative emotion that the plaintiff experiences because of the accident and resulting injuries.
A plaintiff’s damages claim will always encompass things that he or she was temporarily or permanently unable to do, including activities and events that were missed. In addition to time missed at work and the effect of the accident/injuries on the plaintiff's ability to help around the house, exercise, socialize, etc., any good personal injury lawyer will ask the client for details on things like a:
So, missing a special event is absolutely a standard category of damages in a personal injury case. The plaintiff’s job in a personal injury case is to summarize all of the things that he/she could not do as a result of the accident, no matter how (seemingly) minor. It's the personal injury lawyer's job to present all of these different categories of damages in a compelling way. At a personal injury trial, it then becomes the jury’s job to assess the proper damages to award the plaintiff, after considering all factors.
It's important to note that, when considering and deciding a damages award, the jury will not usually be asked to itemize each aspect of the plaintiff’s damages or come up with a figure for each missed event or activity. The plaintiff's personal injury lawyer wants the jury to see the big picture when it comes to the plaintiff's losses (and then, ideally, award a big figure for damages). They don’t necessarily want the jury to think in terms like, "Can’t play with children, $2,000, Missed’s friend’s wedding, $1,500," and so on.
Keep in mind also that, while you are certainly entitled to claim damages for missing a special event, it might not be practical to place a lot of importance on this particular category of losses, unless there are fairly unique circumstances. If you missed your daughter’s wedding, and you were supposed to give her away, then your lawyer would certainly seek to emphasize that and make it a significant component of your case. But other than missing a landmark moment such as that, it may not be wise to count on any individual missed special event enhancing your damages all that significantly.
Definitely tell your lawyer (and the jury, if you end up testifying) about all of things you couldn’t do and all of the events you missed because of the accident and your resulting injuries, but keep your eye on the big picture of your personal injury lawsuit.
