Some of the most significant losses one suffers when injured from someone else’s negligence are non-economic damages. Sometimes called pain and suffering damages or human damages, these types of losses are biggest. Non-economic damages are named as such because they don’t have a document or print out that tells us their value. Things like medical bills and lost wages are considered economic damages, and things like pain, inconvenience, and scarring are considered non-economic.
They are of the greatest significance because the impact our lives the most. When we get hurt and need medical attention, we generally don’t remember how much the medical bills were, we remember how much it hurt and how scared we were. These are non-economic damages and these damages have the greatest impact on our lives.
For this reason, non-economic damages should always be valued much higher than economic damages. In some cases we may multiply the economic losses times three to decide on a value for non-economic losses. But that doesn’t work for all injuries. Some injuries may not make a large economic impact, but they might make a significant impact on one’s life.
Because non-economic damages are so significant yet personal, it important to truly understand our client’s pain and suffering. The investigation into these losses may be difficult and personal, but it’s necessary to get full value for them.