How Non-Economic Damages Are Valued & Awarded
Unlike economic damages, such as medical bills or lost wages, non-economic damages don’t come with a price tag or receipt. They represent deeply personal losses: physical pain, emotional trauma, and the disruption of a person’s ability to live and enjoy life as they once did. Because these losses are subjective and vary from person to person, determining their value is one of the most complex aspects of a personal injury case.
Courts and juries typically use several factors to evaluate non-economic damages. These may include:
- The severity and duration of the injury
- The extent of physical pain and emotional suffering
- The impact on daily activities
- Whether the injury has led to permanent disfigurement, disability, or loss of companionship
Testimony from medical experts, mental health professionals, and the injured person’s loved ones can help paint a fuller picture of how the injury has affected every part of the victim’s life. This evidence is crucial in building a case that demonstrates just how much and in what ways the victim's life has been affected, including the profound impacts that go beyond financial costs.
There is no strict formula for calculating non-economic damages, but some courts use multipliers where economic damages are multiplied by a number typically ranging from 1.5 to 5, depending on the severity of the injury. In other cases, damages may be assessed on a per diem basis, where a daily monetary value is assigned to the victim’s suffering over a specific period.
How Are Non-Economic Damages Different from Other Types of Damages?
Non-economic damages are just one category of compensation available in personal injury cases. Understanding what they are and how they differ from other types of damages is essential to grasping the full value of a claim.
The two main types of damages in a personal injury case are:
- Non-Economic Damages: As discussed, non-economic damages are intangible. They reflect the human cost of an injury, things like physical pain, emotional suffering, trauma, loss of enjoyment of life, and the impact on relationships. These damages recognize that not all harm can be measured in dollars and cents, yet they are often the most profound and lasting consequences of a serious accident.
- Economic Damages: In contrast, non-economic damages are the tangible, financial losses a person suffers because of an injury. These include things like medical bills, lost wages, the cost of future care, and property damage. They are relatively straightforward to calculate using documentation like receipts, invoices, pay stubs, and expert financial projections.
Both economic and non-economic damages fall under the broader category of compensatory damages, which are intended to make the injured person “whole” again—to the extent that money can do so.
In some cases, however, the court may also award punitive damages (also known as exemplary damages). These are not designed to compensate the victim, but to punish the wrongdoer for particularly reckless or intentional misconduct, as well as to deter similar behavior in the future. Punitive damages are rare and are typically reserved for cases involving egregious negligence, gross misconduct, or willful harm.
Maximizing Your Recovery So That You Can Heal
At Arnold & Itkin, we pursue every type of compensation available to our clients. That means accounting not only for the economic toll an injury has taken, but also for the personal and emotional cost it has had and will continue to have. Because when someone’s life has been turned upside down, they deserve justice on every level. No matter what.
For a free consultation with our personal injury lawyers, call (888) 493-1629 or contact us online.
