When you pursue personal injury cases in California, you can seek compensatory damages for harm caused by the wrongful acts or negligence of another. If you have been in a car accident, a slip and fall, or a workplace injury, you should know the legal process to help you secure the compensation you deserve. Knowing your rights and the steps you need to take to recover these damages gives you the power to fight for justice as you navigate the legal complexities.

As you deal with the aftermath of an injury, the recovery process can seem overwhelming. However, you do not have to go through it alone. You can pursue your claim and concentrate on your recovery when you have the proper legal support and understand the compensatory damages you are entitled to.

This guide will walk you through all the considerations you need to make to recover compensatory damages in your personal injury case successfully.

Categories of Compensatory Damages

As discussed above, there are two categories of compensatory damages. Let us examine each in detail.

     a) Economic Damages

Economic damages are quantifiable financial losses caused by an injury. Economic damages are a specific category of compensatory damages designed to reimburse you for these losses. These damages focus on tangible costs and allow you to recover the financial impact of your injury. Below are the critical expenses that feature that constitute economic damages:

  • Medical expenses — These costs are all related to your medical treatment after the injury. These include hospital bills, surgical fees, medication costs, physical therapy, and ongoing care. Jury awards also pay for future treatments you may need because of your injury. It provides complete compensation for those future medical expenses. You must keep thorough documentation of these expenses because they serve as evidence of the financial hardship created by your injury.
  • Lost wages — If you cannot work because of your injury, you can claim the income you would have earned during your recovery. It includes your regular wages and any bonuses, promotions, or benefits you missed because you could not work. You have to show proper documentation as evidence, including pay stubs or tax returns, to show how much you made before your injury.
  • Lost earning capacity — This addresses the long-term financial effects of your injury on your ability to make a living. Compensation is claimed for the difference between your pre-injury earning potential and your reduced earning capacity post-injury if your injury is a permanent disability or prevents you from working in your chosen field. You will need expert testimony or vocational assessments to support your claim that the impact of your injury on your earning ability has been adversely affected.
  • Property damage — In many personal injury cases, property damage results from the incident causing the injury. Let us say you were in a car accident. The costs related to the repair or replacing your car would fall into this category. Your documentation should include receipts for property damage, repair bills, or estimates.
  • Other out-of-pocket expenses — This category incorporates financial losses directly related to the injury. Examples include transportation costs for medical appointments, the expense of hiring help with activities of daily living during recovery, and changes made to your home to be more accessible.

     b) Non-Economic Damages

The second type of compensatory damages is non-economic damages, which differ from economic damages. Economic damages tend to incorporate quantifiable financial losses. On the other hand, non-economic damages are more concerned with the subjective and intangible harm resulting from an injury. These damages compensate you for the pain, suffering, and emotional distress you could endure due to the injury because injuries often bring about effects beyond financial means.

Non-economic damages include several key areas that capture the personal and emotional toll of an injury, specifically:

  • Pain and suffering — This category includes the physical pain and discomfort you experience from your injury. It includes both immediate pain and any chronic pain that may occur later. This is where we see how pain can affect your quality of life and your ability to function daily.
  • Emotional distress — Not only do injuries cause physical pain, they also have profound psychological consequences, including anxiety, depression, or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). It compensates you for the emotional turmoil you suffer. Although emotional and mental suffering could seem obvious and negligible, they are just as damaging as physical injuries.
  • Loss of enjoyment of life — You can try to secure compensation for injuries that make it impossible to do the things you used to do that brought you joy. This category of non-economic damages captures the fact that your quality of life diminishes when you stop being able to participate in hobbies, sports, or social interactions with loved ones as you used to before the incident.
  • Loss of companionship or consortium — If a spouse or partner’s injury impacts your relationship, you may sue for the loss of companionship, intimacy, and emotional support your loved one will no longer be able to give. Much of this aspect points to the relational and emotional damage an injury does to both partners.
  • Disfigurement or physical impairment — You are entitled to compensation for injuries that cause permanent disfigurement or physical disability. You could feel isolated and distressed because of your permanent injury, and this comes with its fair share of challenges.

Because non-economic damages are so subjective, quantifying them can be a challenge. However, with the help of experts in the field, personal injury attorneys are in a position to assist.

How Attorneys Determine the Value of Non-Economic Damages

Attorneys use a strategic analysis to determine the value of non-economic damages based on your unique case. Attorneys start by reviewing as much detail as possible about your injuries and how they have affected your daily life. They look at how intense your physical pain is and how your injuries may affect your activities and relationships. The more significant the impact on your quality of life, the higher the potential valuation for non-economic damages.

Attorneys also often refer to precedents in similar cases when evaluating your case to use as compensation benchmarks. They research prior jury verdicts, and settlement amounts for cases with comparable circumstances. It helps them create realistic expectations for what should be claimed based on historical data.

Attorneys also use specific methodologies to quantify non-economic damages. The multiplier method is one of the most common approaches. The technique involves calculating your total economic damages, like medical expenses and lost income, and multiplying it by a particular factor. The severity and permanence of your injuries usually dictate that this multiplier will range from 1.5 to 5.

For example, assuming you have suffered injuries in a car accident. You incur $20,000 in medical expenses and lose $10,000 in wages during your recovery. Your total economic damages come to $30,000. You must determine a proper multiplier, between 1.5 and 5, based on how severe your injuries are and their impact on your life. Let us assume your injuries are severe enough for a multiplier of 3. To calculate your non-economic damages, multiply your total economic damages of $30,000 by 3. This amounts to $90,000 in noneconomic damages.

Alternatively, the per diem method assigns a daily amount to your suffering and then multiplies that by the number of days you suffer pain or emotional distress. With this method, you create a structured estimation based on the time you expect to recover.

The process is further enhanced by collaboration with healthcare providers. This is where medical professionals come in with their expert opinions of the long-term effects of your injuries and include psychological evaluations that deal with emotional trauma. Their insights support your claim's validity and why you should receive more for non-economic damages.

Damages Cap as Outlined in Law

Typically, you can secure full compensation for damages. However, you can encounter damage caps. These caps limit how much money you can obtain for your losses, specifically for non-economic damages. Cases with caps are the exceptions.

The most well-known exception is the Medical Injury Compensation Reform Act, or MICRA, which caps the amount of non-economic damages in medical malpractice cases. Under MICRA, you are limited to $250,000 in non-economic damages, regardless of how severe your injuries are or the level of suffering you endure.

Assembly Bill 35 imposes caps on noneconomic damages in cases involving healthcare providers or institutions. The law imposes the amounts you can recover in personal injury and wrongful death claims.

The cap on noneconomic damages for personal injury claims is $390,000 from January 2024, up from $350,000 before the bill was enacted. This amount is applied whether you are pursuing a claim against one or more healthcare providers or an institution. For acts of negligence committed by different providers or institutions, the cap remains at $350,000 per claim. That is an increase over the previous limit of $250,000.

The noneconomic damage cap is set at $500,000 in wrongful death cases. This cap covers claims against one or more healthcare providers and institutions. As with personal injury claims, the maximum recovery does not increase if multiple parties are involved.

Assembly Bill 35 also outlines incremental increases to these caps. The limits for noneconomic damages will increase by $40,000 per year for the next 10 years after January 2023. The personal injury cap will be $750,000 by January 1, 2033, and the wrongful death cap will be $1,000,000. In addition, these caps will also adjust for inflation, rising by 2% a year beginning January 1, 2034.

AB 35 greatly influences how you receive compensation for future damages. You can receive periodic payments instead of a lump sum. Previously, a court had the power to order a future damages award paid in periodic installments instead of a lump sum if the award exceeded $50,000. The minimum threshold for periodic payments is now $250,000 under law. This adjustment ensures you get enough money to pay for long-term medical care, rehabilitation, or loss of income.

If the court finds periodic payments are appropriate, it will specify the payment schedule, how much, and how often the defendant(s) will pay to meet your needs. A structured approach helps you manage ongoing care and living expenses and avoid the risk of misusing a large lump-sum payment. If the defendant does not pay on time, you can seek enforcement through the court. The court could rule that the defendant is in contempt, which results in penalties, and will pay for any additional costs you incur for missed payments.

What Assembly Bill 35 Means for Your Attorney's Fees

Personal injury attorneys work on a contingency fee basis, meaning you will only pay them if they win your case. This helps you access legal representation without upfront cost, which is good if you cannot afford to pay for an injury.

The most significant advantage of this fee structure is that it aligns your attorney’s interests with yours. Because their payment depends on the outcome of your case, they are motivated to maximize your recovery. If you fail to secure compensation, you do not owe any fees, which lowers your financial risk in getting justice. However, discuss the contingency agreement's specifics before signing with your attorney. This will help you understand the fee structure and potential costs while pursuing your case.

The recent restructuring of attorney contingency fees significantly changes how legal representation is compensated in personal injury cases. Under the new law, attorneys can charge different percentages depending on when a settlement occurs. For example, attorneys can charge 25% of the recovery sum if a case settles before a civil complaint or arbitration is filed. This lower fee encourages plaintiffs to settle quickly and keep more of their recovery. It also motivates lawyers to expedite the settlement process.

On the other hand, the attorney’s fee jumps to 33% of the recovery amount if a case settles after filing a civil complaint or arbitration. This increase accounts for the extra work and resources needed once legal proceedings are underway, as attorneys must navigate the legal system and do more work in the form of negotiations or litigation.

AB 35 also allows attorneys to request a higher contingency fee if the case goes to trial by filing a motion. In this case, the attorneys must show good cause for the increase. This provision ensures you know about possible costs and allows attorneys to adequately cover the time and effort necessary to prepare for and prosecute. The law also firms up the idea of the tiered fee by balancing clients' and attorneys’ interests while at the same time promoting fair compensation and settling promptly.

Distinguishing Punitive Damages from Compensatory Damages

You can seek compensatory and punitive damages when pursuing a personal injury claim. They both play different roles in personal injury lawsuits.

Compensatory damages are compensation for harm you have suffered because of the injury. The damages in these cases are meant to bring you back to your financial and emotional state before the incident. These damages fall into two categories, namely:

  • Economic and
  • Non-economic damages

By contrast, punitive damages serve another purpose. Rather than pay you, they serve as a punishment for the defendant’s particularly egregious conduct. They also seek to deter future wrongdoing. To secure punitive damages, you must prove that the defendant’s actions were more than negligence. They were a willful disregard for your safety.

Whether you are suing for compensatory or punitive damages, you bear the burden of proof in a personal injury lawsuit. For compensatory damages, you have to establish that it is more likely than not that the defendant’s actions caused your injury to meet this burden. However, to recover punitive damages, you must prove that the defendant acted recklessly, with malice or fraud, by presenting clear and convincing evidence. This higher standard helps ensure that punitive damages are only available when the defendant acted beyond being negligent and intentionally disregarded your safety.

Find a Personal Injury Attorney Near Me

Compensatory damages must be recovered to address the physical, emotional, and economic effects of injuries resulting from negligent acts. Nevertheless, if you are trying to get through medical bills, lost wages, or the emotional stress of pain and suffering, you face some significant hurdles. It calls for you to know your rights and what options you have for recovering your money to get your financial life back in order and make the people responsible for their actions pay.

Pursuing your claim is a complex process. We at Los Angeles Personal Injury Attorney recommend that you pursue just compensation with the help of a qualified personal injury attorney. When you engage us, our experienced lawyers will review your case, gather evidence of your need, and fight for the most compensation you deserve. Our efforts apply to out-of-court engagements with defendants and in court should the case proceed to trial. Contact us today at 424-231-2013 and work with us as we fight for your rights while aiming to secure just compensation.