What damages can I recover in a California personal injury case?

Economic damages

Economic damages compensate you for the quantifiable financial losses caused by your injury. Depending on the circumstances, they may include:

Medical expenses

You may recover the reasonable value of medical care made necessary by the injury, including:

• Emergency and ambulance services
• Hospitalization and surgery
• Physician and specialist care
• Physical and occupational therapy
• Psychological and cognitive treatment
• Prescription medications
• Medical equipment and assistive devices

A claim should account not only for the bills you have already incurred, but also for the treatment and support you are reasonably expected to need in the future.

Lost income

If your injuries prevented you from working, even temporarily, you may recover the income you lost.

Loss of earning capacity

A serious or permanent injury may reduce your ability to earn income in the future. California law allows recovery for that diminished earning capacity. This claim is based on the earning ability you lost, not simply what you earned before the injury.

Relevant considerations may include your age, occupation, education, training, skills, career trajectory, work-life expectancy, and the nature and duration of your limitations. A person does not necessarily need an established earnings history to recover damages for lost earning capacity.

Property damage and other financial losses

Depending on the case, economic damages may also include vehicle repairs or replacement, rental-car expenses, transportation costs, home modifications, in-home assistance, and other reasonable out-of-pocket expenses caused by the injury.

Noneconomic damages

Noneconomic damages compensate for the human consequences of an injury. These losses cannot be measured through invoices, receipts, or pay stubs, but they are often among the most significant harms an injured person experiences.

The value of noneconomic damages depends heavily on the evidence and on how clearly the injury’s effect on your daily life is documented and presented.

Physical pain and suffering

You may recover compensation for the physical pain, discomfort, and suffering caused by your injuries. Relevant considerations include the nature and severity of the injury, the intensity and duration of the pain, the treatment required, and whether the pain is expected to continue.

Emotional distress

An injury may cause anxiety, depression, fear, humiliation, grief, sleep disruption, post-traumatic symptoms, and other forms of mental and emotional suffering. These harms may be compensable even though they do not appear on a medical bill.

Loss of enjoyment of life

An injury may prevent you from participating in activities, relationships, routines, and experiences that previously gave your life meaning and enjoyment. The loss of that ability is a distinct and important component of damages.

Disfigurement and physical impairment

Scarring, disfigurement, loss of a limb, reduced mobility, and other lasting physical limitations may support a substantial noneconomic damages award.

Punitive damages

Punitive damages are different from compensatory damages. They are not intended to compensate the injured person for a particular loss. Instead, they are intended to punish especially wrongful conduct and deter similar conduct in the future.

California sets a high standard for punitive damages. A plaintiff must prove by clear and convincing evidence that the defendant acted with oppression, fraud, or malice. Ordinary carelessness or negligence is generally not enough. Additional requirements may apply when punitive damages are sought against an employer or corporate defendant.

Wrongful death and survival actions

When an injury results in death, California law may recognize two separate claims.

Wrongful death

A wrongful death claim belongs to certain surviving family members and other persons authorized by statute. It compensates them for the losses they personally sustained because of the death. Recoverable damages may include:

• The financial support the decedent would have contributed
• The value of household services the decedent would have provided
• Funeral and burial expenses
• Loss of sexual relations, love, companionship, comfort, care, assistance, protection, affection, moral support, training, and guidance

Wrongful death damages compensate the survivors for their losses. They do not compensate for the decedent’s own injuries.

Survival action

A survival action preserves a claim that belonged to the decedent before death. It is generally brought by the decedent’s personal representative or successor in interest. Recoverable damages may include medical expenses, lost earnings, property damage, and other losses the decedent sustained before death.

Every personal injury claim is different

There is no universal formula for determining the value of a personal injury claim. The available damages depend on the nature of the injury, the medical evidence, the effect on your work and daily life, the available insurance or assets, and the strength of the evidence establishing liability.

Identifying every category of loss early in the case is critical. Damages that are not properly documented, supported, and presented may never be fully recovered.