Posted on 04/24/25
When hurt due to the negligence of another person, victims have the right to pursue compensation for any losses they can document. That falls into two categories in most situations: economic and non-economic damages. In a personal injury case, as the victim, it is your job to demonstrate your losses to build a strong claim for any damages. A Buffalo personal injury lawyer can help you file a claim.
What Are Economic Damages in a Personal Injury Case?
Economic damages are those that relate to documented financial loss stemming from the accident. They tend to be the baseline for the compensation you will receive. These include any compensation you pay out of pocket for your medical needs or other accident-related expenses, as well as other losses. Some of the most common types of economic damages in a personal injury case include:
- Emergency medical services were received at the time of the accident
- Medical care, treatments, and surgeries
- Ongoing medical care and hospitalizations
- Dental expenses if you have related injuries
- Rehabilitation and recovery services
- Mental health therapy for emotional trauma
- Lost wages from missing work
- Loss of earnings if you cannot go back to the same job
- Loss of expected overtime, commission, or bonuses you would likely have received
What Are Noneconomic Damages in a Personal Injury Case?
Non-economic damages often make up a substantial amount of your claim. These are less specific and more subjective. While you might have a bill for a medical expense, putting a value on pain and suffering is more complex. Though they are not easy to quantify, they are essential to your recovery and aim to support you in overcoming the negative changes that occurred in a person’s life.
Examples of non-economic damages include:
- Pain and suffering, including physical pain and suffering, insomnia, the development of health problems, or complications from injuries impacting your emotional health
- Mental and emotional distress, including the onset of changes to your life, dealing with disability, and suffering emotional trauma
- Disfigurement, a type of non-economic loss that aims to compensate you for scarring from your injuries
- Loss of enjoyment of life, including documentation of activities you can no longer engage in, or changes to the way you live due to the accident
- Loss of consortium, which includes changes to your intimate and romantic relationships
Your Buffalo pedestrian accident attorney will help you determine these losses. One factor that makes non-economic damages complex is valuing them. Depending on where you live, there are two main ways to do this.
- Multiplier method: Generally, the most common method, the jury will rate your injuries on a scale of 1 to 5, with the highest being more severe and more impactful. Then, your economic damages are multiplied by that figure.
- Per diem method: In this method, the jury will assign a daily value for your damages, such as $100 per day. That is then multiplied by the number of days you suffered.
What happens in your case is dependent on the circumstances. Because these losses play such an important role in your overall ability to recover and get back to your life, it is critical that you seek out an attorney who will help you extend those losses in any way possible. The more thorough your Buffalo accident attorney is and the more comprehensive the evaluation is, the better for recovering fair damages.