In personal injury cases, special damages reimburse the plaintiff for tangible expenses; general damages compensate for intangible ones such as pain and suffering. Special damages are often easy to calculate. These include the costs of repairing or replacing damaged property, lost wages, sick time or vacation you used during your recovery, and any other out-of-pocket expenses you incurred as a result of the injury. You can also receive compensation for the loss of future earnings if the injury prevents you from being promoted to a better job or if it requires you to be changed to a job that pays less.
You are entitled to a full refund of your actual expenses, so be sure to keep track of all of these types of expenses. Any specific monetary loss suffered by a plaintiff that can be attributed to the defendant's negligence or wrongful acts may constitute special harm. The amount awarded will be intended to reimburse the plaintiff for the full amount of their economic losses. Special damages are calculated based on actual financial losses and can be precisely quantified.
No; special damages involve tangible losses, while punitive damages are more subjective and are not necessarily related to the specific costs that the victim has suffered. Special damages are linked to the harm caused by the defendant, while punitive damages are awarded in situations where the court wants to punish or set an example for the defendant. Special damages, also known as economic damages, in a personal injury case are those that are special or specific to the individual victim. The theory behind estimating general damages based on special damages is that more serious injuries will result in higher special medical damages and will likely cause more pain and suffering to the plaintiff.
In contract law, special damages (also called consequential damages) refer to irregular damages, such as physical injuries during a breach of contract, but general damages refer to damages that are expected from the breach of contract. When determining the amount of special medical damages for negotiation purposes, many attorneys and insurance companies will use the amount billed, even if the medical bills were covered by insurance or if, as is very common, the medical provider and insurance company ultimately agreed to a reduced amount. When estimating the value of an injury claim, many attorneys and insurance companies use a mathematical formula to estimate the value of an injury and determine a starting point for their negotiations. Both general and special damages are considered “compensatory damages” because they are intended to help cover losses associated with injury or death.
To obtain a reasonable starting number to negotiate general damages, many insurance companies and attorneys multiply the amount of special medical damages by a factor of 1.5 to 5, depending on the severity of the injuries. When determining the amount of special damages to be reimbursed in a lawsuit, you'll have to be more precise; a recent case in California (Howell v. the library) contains several resources that you may find useful in evaluating your situation and calculating damages, such as “How to Win Your Personal Injury Claim” from Nolo Press, which includes a very detailed chapter on how to determine the value of your injury claim, as well as tips for negotiating a settlement with the defendant. The above issues are made-up numbers for this blog, but they provide information on some of the categories that may be considered for special damages. As you can see, compensation for special damages could amount to a significant amount of money, depending on the severity of the injuries and the ongoing impact they may have on a person's life.
Unfortunately, the law does not provide a specific method or formula for determining the amount you are owed. They refer to the exact costs associated with an incident or injury, costs that can be clearly determined. As explained below, the amount of special medical damages is used to determine the severity of the injury, so it makes sense to use the billed amounts for medical treatment. Special and general damages are collectively known as “compensatory damages”, which are intended to compensate the victim for economic and non-economic losses suffered in an accident.
In many cases, health care accounts for the lion's share of special damages, but loss of income (especially potential income) can also add up quickly.