What are Economic Damages in California Injury Cases?
- Economic damages aim to compensate for quantifiable monetary losses and expenses related to an accident.
- Economic damages are the losses you can measure with dollars and cents.
- Economic damages include medical expenses, loss of earnings, reduced earning capacity, property damage, costs for nursing assistance, and other out-of-pocket expenses related to the injury.
- Economic damages allow you to reach the financial position you held before your accident.
- Economic damages can include present and future expenses.
When you suffer injuries in an accident in California, you generally have the right to file a claim and seek compensatory damages from the responsible party or their insurance company.
Compensatory damages fall into two categories: economic damages and non-economic damages. Economic damages are the losses you can measure with dollars and cents, such as your lost wages, your past medical bills, and your future medical bills.
The Intent and Purpose of Awarding Economic Damages
Accidents can be costly. If you get hurt because someone else is negligent, you should not have to shoulder those expenses on your own. That’s where economic damages come in.
Economic damages are intended to compensate for all objectively provable expenses and monetary losses related to an avoidable accident and resulting injuries. When you seek economic damages, you are looking to reach the financial position you held before your accident.
Once economic damages are awarded, the responsible parties bear the financial consequences, not you.
Economic Awards Can Include Compensation for Present and Future Expenses
After an accident, your related expenses and financial losses will likely reach into the future—sometimes for the rest of your life. In California, economic damages are calculated with this in mind.
In addition to seeking damages for your current out-of-pocket costs, you can also seek damages for future financial losses—both direct and direct—so long as the costs are reasonably certain to occur.
Items of Economic Damage in California
Several different economic damages can be awarded in a California personal injury case. Here are the most common:
Medical Expenses
Injuries—whether mild, moderate, or severe—tend to require medical treatment. You can seek economic damages to reimburse you and/or cover the costs of necessary and reasonable medical care, both present and future.
Common expenses include:
- Medical transportation (ambulance)
- Hospitalization
- Surgery (corrective and/or plastic, depending on the circumstances)
- Medication
- Medical devices
- Medical equipment
- Physical therapy
- Occupational therapy
You can also receive compensation for the cost of travel to and from a hospital or your health-care provider.
Loss of Earnings
Severe injuries can prevent you from working. Even if you have available paid time off, the financial consequences can be devastating. You shouldn’t have to exhaust your sick leave and vacation days because someone else caused an accident.
Damages can be awarded to make up for the wages, income, benefits, and other lost earnings due to your accident-related injury. California law even states that you can recover compensation if you miss out on employment opportunities—like a promotion or new business venture—because of someone else’s negligence.
Reduced Earning Capacity
If you are unable to return to work in the same capacity, your income might suffer. Damages can be awarded to make up for the difference between what you earned before you got hurt and what you are capable of earning now.
Disability
Some injuries will prevent you from ever going back to work. In these situations, damages can be awarded to offset your total loss of income so you can still make ends meet.
Property Damage
Property damage can be costly. Under California law, you can seek money to cover the costs of replacing damaged property or what it will cost to repair it.
Nursing Assistance
If the severity of your injuries prevents you from caring for yourself, or if you require assistance, damages can be awarded to cover the costs of a nursing facility or in-home caretaker.
Other Out-of-Pocket Expenses
Economic damages should cover reasonable and necessary monetary expenses and losses related to your accident and injury. There is no set list of economic items that you pick and choose from. Instead, you can file a claim and seek compensation for all your costs.
Some relevant out-of-pocket costs could include:
- Vehicle rental
- Alterations to your home or vehicle that are necessary to accommodate a disability
- Hotel stays if you have to travel to obtain specialized medical treatment
How are economic damages calculated?
Unless issues of shared fault arise, you are entitled to recover the total value of your monetary costs and losses. Typically, these are calculated using:
- Hospital bills
- Receipts
- Invoices
- Wage statements
- Time sheets
- W2s and tax returns
Things can get a bit more complicated when seeking economic damages for future losses. In these situations, you must identify the projected cost or loss. You will need to consider the present cash value, how long you are likely to experience that financial loss, and other important factors.
California Personal Injury Lawyers Ready to Seek Full Compensation for Your Economic Losses
At Cutter Law, we can help you identify economic damages to confidently seek full compensation for your losses. You will have a team of experts who can provide guidance during this critical stage of your case.
Contact Cutter Law if you have recently been injured in an accident in California. You have a limited time to file a lawsuit and demand economic damages for your losses, so contact our office to schedule your free case review today.
Punitive damages are awarded punish a defendant for malicious conduct. Punitive damages are not available in all cases.
Non-economic damages are those quality of life losses that you sustain in an injury, including the pain and suffering, humiliation, and grief.
Pain and suffering could be worth tens of millions of dollars if you’ve had the tragic misfortune of being paralyzed or permanently injured.