Damages - Monetary Compensation for Injuries Suffered

You have been injured by the willful or negligent acts of another party and rightly, you deserve some form of compensation. The theory behind damages is to make you whole. To return you, the injured party to a state before the injury occurred. However, in many if not most cases of injury the injured party cannot be returned to a state as they were before the injury. An example would be if an injured party lost a limb in an automobile accident. That limb cannot be replaced and restore the injured party to a state as when before the injury occurred. Therefore, damages is an attempt to quantify monetarily a valuation in an attempt to make the injured party whole. ~ Albert Pepper

A successful claim in civil tort law generally entitles the injured party (the plaintiff) to a monetary award, known as damages, intended to address the harm caused by the wrongdoer (the defendant).

The various types of damages can be broadly categorized based on their primary purpose: to compensate the victim, to punish the defendant, or to recognize a legal wrong.

The two primary categories of damages awarded in tort cases are Compensatory and Punitive.

Damage TypePurposeAvailabilityCompensatoryTo make the injured party "whole" again by providing financial restitution for actual losses.Most common; awarded for nearly all proven torts resulting in harm.Punitive (or Exemplary)To punish the defendant for particularly egregious, reckless, or malicious conduct and to deter similar future behavior.Rare; reserved for cases involving gross negligence or intentional misconduct.

These damages cover the losses the plaintiff actually suffered. Their goal is to put the plaintiff back in the financial position they were in before the tort occurred. Compensatory damages are further broken down into two variants:

These are quantifiable financial losses that can be calculated with relative certainty, often using bills, receipts, or wage statements.

• Definition: Compensation for specific, tangible, economic losses.
• Examples:
  
  • Medical Expenses: Past, present, and projected future costs for treatment, hospitalization, medication, and rehabilitation.
  • Lost Wages/Income: Wages lost due to time missed from work, and Loss of Earning Capacity (future income the plaintiff can no longer earn due to a permanent injury).
  • Property Damage: Cost of repairing or replacing damaged property (e.g., a car in an accident).
  • Out-of-Pocket Expenses: Costs like transportation to medical appointments or hiring in-home help.

These are non-quantifiable, subjective losses that do not have an exact financial value and are difficult to measure. They are intended to compensate for the emotional and physical impact of the injury.

• Definition: Compensation for intangible, non-economic harm.
• Examples:
  
  • Pain and Suffering: Compensation for the physical discomfort and emotional distress resulting from the injury.
  • Emotional Distress/Mental Anguish: Psychological harm such as anxiety, depression, or PTSD.
  • Loss of Enjoyment of Life: Compensation for the diminished ability to participate in and enjoy life's activities (hobbies, recreation, etc.).
  • Loss of Consortium: Damages awarded to a spouse or family member for the loss of companionship, affection, assistance, and/or sexual relations with the injured party.

These damages are awarded in addition to compensatory damages and are fundamentally different in purpose.

• Definition: A financial penalty intended to punish the defendant for behavior that is malicious, fraudulent, oppressive, or shows a reckless disregard for the rights of others.
• Key Distinction: They are not based on the plaintiff's loss, but on the severity and reprehensibility of the defendant's conduct.

In addition to the main categories, other types of damages may be awarded depending on the circumstances of the case:

• Nominal Damages:
  
  • Definition: A very small, symbolic award (often $1) given when the defendant committed a legal wrong (a tort) but the plaintiff failed to prove any significant actual injury or loss.
  • Purpose: To affirm that a plaintiff's rights were violated, even without substantial harm.
• Aggravated Damages:
  
  • Definition: A form of compensatory damages awarded when the defendant's conduct in committing the tort was particularly harsh, high-handed, humiliating, or insulting, which aggravated the plaintiff's injury (e.g., increased emotional distress).
  • Distinction from Punitive: Unlike punitive damages, which punish the defendant's state of mind, aggravated damages are still compensatory in nature, focusing on the additional harm inflicted on the plaintiff by the manner of the wrong.
• Statutory Damages (Less common in Tort):
  
  • Definition: An amount of damages set by a specific statute (law), rather than calculated based on actual loss or subjective assessment.
  • Purpose: To provide a fixed remedy, often in areas like copyright infringement or consumer protection, where actual damages may be difficult to prove.
• Wrongful Death Damages:
  
  • Definition: Damages sought by the deceased person's family or estate in a lawsuit where the death was caused by the defendant's tortious act (e.g., negligence).
  • Variants: Often includes compensation for lost financial support, funeral expenses (pecuniary), and loss of companionship (non-pecuniary/general damages) depending on the jurisdiction.

The most important distinction to remember is between Compensatory (to compensate the victim) and Punitive (to punish the wrongdoer). Compensatory damages are then subdivided into Pecuniary (easy to calculate, like medical bills) and Non-Pecuniary (harder to calculate, like pain and suffering).