You might have heard the term “non-economic damages” before. If you’re not part of the legal profession, though, you may not know anything about them.
We will talk about non-economic damages in the following article.
We’ll cover the basics, including what constitutes non-economic damages and how they can impact your lifestyle.
What Are Non-Economic Damages?
If you’re on either end of a personal injury case, you might encounter the term non-economic damages. You can be the defendant or the plaintiff in one of these cases.
Non-economic damages are one of three kinds you can get in a personal injury lawsuit if you come out on the winning side.
You can get economic damages, punitive ones, and non-economic ones.
Non-economic damages account for non-financial, personal losses after an accident. They do not have an immediate cash value that’s easy to name, like with economic damages.
Economic damages are usually easy to quantify because you just have to look at lost wages or similar figures that you can easily determine.
Punitive damages involve money a defendant pays a plaintiff to punish them for their conduct. Punitive damages might result if the defendant did something egregious.
The Limitations Statute
Before we get any further into discussing non-economic damages, you should know about the limitations statute with personal injury cases. Personal injury cases have a four-year limitations statute in some states, such as Florida.
You’ll need to look at the statute in your home state, assuming the accident that injured you took place there.
You need to make sure and bring a lawsuit against the person who harmed you in time. If the limitations statute passes, you can no longer sue them, even if you’re sure they caused your injury.
What Goes into Non-Economic Damages?
Say that you want to file a lawsuit against someone, and you feel sure they caused your injuries. You may want to know what goes into the non-economic damages portion of that suit.
You can ask for money from the jury for things like companionship loss.
Maybe this person or entity’s action caused your partner or spouse to die, and now, they’re no longer with you. You might very well ask for money to compensate you for that.
If you can prove the person or entity caused that person’s death, you should get appropriate damages.
You might ask for money for enjoyment loss. Maybe you can’t enjoy the same things you once could, such as riding a bike or playing catch with your kids.
Mental anguish might come into play, or physical impairment. Pain and suffering or inconvenience sometimes become part of non-economic damages.
How Non-Economic Damages Can Change Your Life
Let’s say for a moment that you sued a company because they made a product that killed your loved one. You’re not with that person anymore, so companionship loss fuels the lawsuit.
You win your case, perhaps after a lengthy court battle.
Now, you have a great deal of money that you didn’t have before. You might get millions of dollars in some instances.
You will first need to pay back your attorney before deciding what you’ll do with that unexpected windfall.
The attorney might take a large chunk of that money. If you hired them on a contingency basis, they might take 30-40%.
That might seem like a lot, but that’s the industry standard.
Now that you have the remaining money, you might quit your job. Perhaps you have enough from the trial’s verdict to live for the rest of your life on that cash.
On the other hand, perhaps you want to go back to work to distract yourself from not having your loved one beside you anymore.
You might immerse yourself in your career, so you don’t have to focus on that loss.
What Other Life Changes Can Non-Economic Damages Bring About?
You might also use the money from a court verdict for other things. Maybe, when you get that windfall, you decide to move.
In the scenario we described, where an entity or individual caused a loved one’s death, you might not want to live in the same city or state anymore since that reminds you of them.
You might move across the country, or at least out of the house or apartment you shared with that person.
Perhaps you have enough money to buy a home now, where before, you could only rent.
You probably miss that person very much, but at least you can enjoy this silver lining. You can use the money to get yourself a nice home in a place where you like living.
Psychological Drawbacks
You might use that money for all kinds of things, but you may also feel guilty about having it. Perhaps you have plenty of cash now, but it sickens you to look at it.
That’s not uncommon after these cases. You got money from the responsible person or entity, but you can’t feel joy when you spend it.
You might decide to contribute some of that money to charity. You can also use it to set up a college fund for your kids if you have any.
You might give some money to relatives or friends who supported you during this difficult time.
You may have to look into therapy because of the trial’s outcome. You have that money, but you may feel survivor’s guilt because your loved one died, but you lived.
A therapist might help you get through these challenging days, and eventually, you may start to recover.
Remember that if you get money from non-economic damages stemming from a personal injury lawsuit, it’s a huge lifestyle change.
You may need to take time to think about what to do with that windfall. Maybe you should take a break from work and your routine while you really ponder the best thing to do.
Eventually, an answer should present itself. In time, you can hopefully get past this traumatic experience, and perhaps that money can help you