Personal Injury
Emotional Distress
5 statutes with plain-language summaries, case relevance, source links, and related Michigan practice areas.
Statutory text checked against the Michigan Compiled Laws, complete through PA 16 of 2026, on June 12, 2026.
Emotional Distress
5 statutes"Except as otherwise provided in this section, the period of limitations is 3 years after the time of the death or injury for all actions to recover damages for the death of a person or for injury to a person or property." Intentional-infliction deadline analysis comes from applying this and related accrual law, not from a separate sentence in the statute.Read Full Statute
Michigan's general injury limitations statute gives many personal-injury and emotional-distress claims a 3-year filing period after the claim accrues, unless a more specific limitation period applies.
Emotional-distress theories can arise in personal-injury, employment, civil-rights, abuse, and other matters. The correct deadline depends on the underlying legal theory and accrual rule.
We identify all applicable emotional distress theories and ensure they are properly pleaded within the limitations period to capture every available avenue of recovery.
"The claim accrues at the time the wrong upon which the claim is based was done regardless of the time when damage results."Read Full Statute
Unless another statute provides a different rule, a claim accrues when the wrong on which the claim is based was done, regardless of when the resulting damage is discovered.
The accrual date can decide whether an emotional-distress claim is timely. Symptoms that worsen or become clearer later do not automatically move the filing deadline.
We build a timeline of the wrongful conduct, injury, discovery, and any potentially applicable tolling or claim-specific accrual rule before deciding whether a claim can be filed.
Wrongful-death damages may include reasonable medical, hospital, funeral, and burial expenses; conscious pain and suffering while conscious between injury and death; loss of financial support; and loss of society and companionship, subject to the statute and distribution procedure.Read Full Statute
Michigan's Wrongful Death Act allows recovery for loss of society and companionship, along with other damages the statute identifies, through the decedent's personal representative.
Loss of society and companionship is a recognized noneconomic-damages category in wrongful death cases. Medical-malpractice wrongful death claims may also require analysis of statutory caps.
We work with the personal representative and surviving family members to document legally recoverable relationship losses and present them clearly.
MCL 600.6304 requires fault allocation in qualifying tort actions involving fault of more than 1 person and generally provides several-only liability, with specific statutory exceptions and medical-malpractice rules.Read Full Statute
In tort cases involving fault of more than one person, the jury or court generally allocates percentages of fault among parties and sometimes nonparties. Whether this applies to a particular emotional-distress theory depends on the claim and the conduct alleged.
Defendants may try to shift fault to other parties, nonparties, or the plaintiff. Intentional-tort, civil-rights, and employment-related emotional-distress claims may require different analysis.
We build detailed timelines and present clear evidence of each defendant's conduct so the jury can accurately attribute emotional harm to the parties who caused it.
"A person who, with the intent to cause cruel or extreme physical or mental pain and suffering, inflicts great bodily injury or severe mental pain or suffering upon another person within his or her custody or physical control commits torture..."Read Full Statute
Michigan's criminal torture statute prohibits intentional infliction of extreme physical or mental suffering under the statute's terms. It is a criminal law, not a stand-alone civil cause of action.
Facts that may violate a criminal statute can also be relevant to separate civil claims, including assault, battery, civil-rights, or abuse-related claims. The civil theory must be identified independently.
We review criminal records, investigative findings, medical proof, and witness evidence to determine which civil claims are available when extreme abuse is alleged.