Understanding the Differences Between Economic and Non-Economic Damages
While civil courts could order defendants to pay punitive damages to someone they have injured through extreme negligence or intentional malice, most personal injury cases center around compensatory damages. This means the plaintiff is reimbursed for specific losses they have experienced due to the defendant’s actions. These damages can be further divided into economic and non-economic damages, also known respectively as special and general damages.
Understanding the differences between economic and non-economic damages could be crucial in order to receive the maximum compensation from a personal injury lawsuit. It could also ensure you are covered for any suffering you have endured due to someone else’s negligence. Here is a brief overview of what differentiates these two types of losses in a practical and legal sense, which a personal injury attorney from Tomeny | Best could explain in detail during a free consultation.
Economic Damages: All About the Numbers
Economic damages are, as the terminology suggests, economic in nature, which means they are losses with objective dollar values that can be calculated through quantitative evidence, such as bills, receipts, invoices, and pay stubs. While there may be some debate during a personal injury claim about whether a particular economic loss stems directly from another person’s negligence, the amount of money attached to each individual loss is rarely disputed.
Medical bills are the most common type of economic loss factored into a personal injury claim in the United States due to the expense of medical care and the difficulty faced when working with health insurance companies. However, it is also possible—and often crucial—to recover for matters such as your loss of income during time off work to recover from an injury, lost long-term earning capacity due to a permanent disability, and various other expenses, including car repair bills or the cost of replacing a damaged smartphone.
Non-Economic Damages: All About Your Own Experiences
Conversely, non-economic damages are subjective, and while their value could sometimes be based on legal precedent and previous court verdicts, the only way to define the value of non-economic losses is through qualitative personal testimony. Depending on the circumstances, this could involve you explaining to a judge or jury how the injury has affected your mental well-being, evidence exhibits of your journal or diary entries on the same subject, input from subject matter experts, such as psychologists and therapists, and even interviews with concerned family members and friends.
Physical pain and suffering is the archetypal example of a non-economic loss from a personal injury, so much so that non-economic damages are sometimes referred to as pain and suffering damages. It is important to remember that trauma can be emotional and psychological as well as physical, and a comprehensive claim may need to account for your mental anguish and lost quality of life.
Call Today To Discuss the Difference Between Economic and Non-Economic Damages
Although this is far from a comprehensive list of all the losses that could potentially factor into a personal injury lawsuit, you should now have a good idea of the core differences between economic and non-economic damages. If you have further questions or want to discuss a possible civil claim, the team at Tomeny | Best could provide the custom-tailored support you need. Call today to set up a meeting.
