How Injury Damages Are Calculated: Economic vs. Non-Economic Damages

Part of the series: “What Is My Personal Injury Case Worth? A Complete Guide.” This article covers how a jury actually puts a number on an injury.

For an injury case that goes to a jury, the jury doesn’t guess at a number out of thin air. At the end of trial, the judge gives the jury instructions — correct statements of the law that tell them exactly what to consider. In Nebraska, the damages instruction is NJI2d Civ. 4.00 (with 4.01), and it divides damages into two categories: economic and non-economic.

A simple test tells you which is which: can you calculate it down to the penny? If yes, it’s economic. If no, it’s non-economic.

• Medical bills, past and future. Past bills are valued at the actual amount charged — the cash price — not the discounted rate an insurer pays. Future care is recoverable when it’s reasonably certain, often proven through a life-care planner who reviews your records and projects what you’ll need.
• Lost wages and earning capacity. Past wages you missed are straightforward; future loss of earning capacity — the work you can no longer do — is established with expert analysis.
• Funeral costs, in cases involving a death.
• Loss of use and replacement of property. These are two separate things: the value of being without your property, plus the cost to repair or replace it.
• Domestic services. If your injuries force you to hire someone to do things you used to do at home, that cost is recoverable.

• Physical pain, past and future.
• Mental suffering and emotional distress. A useful way to separate them: emotional distress is what you feel about your loss; mental suffering is what you think about it.
• Inconvenience. Months of appointments and therapy — the constant disruption of treatment — is itself a compensable loss.
• Loss of society, the diminished ability to take part in the people and activities that make up your life.
• Injury to reputation and humiliation. How others now regard you because of your limitations, and how you feel about yourself because of them.
• Loss of consortium, a spouse’s separate loss — important enough that we cover it in its own article.

Damages are deeply personal. Picture a painter who makes a living — and finds real joy — with his hands, and who suffers a serious hand injury. His economic damages are large because he can no longer work, and his non-economic damages are large because he’s lost something he loved. Now picture a lawyer with the same hand injury who rarely uses that hand for work or for the things he enjoys. Same injury, far smaller damages. Applying the jury instruction intelligently to your specific life is a central part of valuing a case.

If you’ve been injured and want an honest assessment of what your case may be worth, the attorneys at High & Younes can help.Consultations are free, and we commonly work on a contingency fee — no upfront cost to you.

Call or text us today at 402-933-3345