Financial Loss vs Pain and Suffering: Personal Injury Cases

When you are involved in a lawsuit for personal injury, there are numerous types of potential damages available including damages for pain and suffering, emotional distress, lost wages and medical bills, among others. Understand the difference between these types of damages is important, as some states have instituted caps on non-economic damages, especially in cases of medical malpractice. These caps - part of a tort reform effort- may limit what you can recover for pain and suffering.

Economic Damages

When you suffer a loss and file a lawsuit against the responsible party, you are generally responsible for full compensation for:

Medical bills you incurred to get treatment for the injury
Lost wages for any work that you missed as a result of the injury you suffered

These are referred to as economic damages, since they are money you actually spent and lost. It is usually easy to prove these damages and to get an accurate calculation. You can simple provide a copy of the bills and the missed work, and the jury can add it all up to decide just how much you are entitled to

Non-Economic Damages

Non economic damages, on the other hand, are not designed to compensate you for financial loss. Instead, they are designed to compensate you for the other losses- the non-financial ones- the injury caused. These non economic damages can include:

Pain and suffering
Emotional distress
Loss of companionship
Loss of consortium

Non economic damages can be more difficult to calculate. After all, what is the monetary value of being able to use your arm versus having the pain of a broken arm? How can anyone- a jury or a plaintiff- really ever put an accurate price on that? They can't, but these damages are still permitted and necessary to fully compensate a plaintiff.

Tort Reform

Although non economic damages are important, some states have put a cap on them. For example, in medical malpractice cases, California has instituted a $250,000 limit on non economic or non compensatory damages. The premise behind this is that juries were awarding large verdicts for non economic damages based on sympathy for a patient. This led to very high medical malpractice premiums, and the costs of these insurance premiums were passed on to consumers in the form of higher health care costs.

Getting Help

If you have been the victim of a personal injury and you want to understand all of your damages, including those damages for financial loss and pain and suffering, consult with an experienced personal injury who can help.

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