Economic damages cover measurable financial harm: past and future medical expenses, lost wages, lost earning capacity, household services, property damage, and out-of-pocket costs.
They are proven through documentary evidence such as bills and pay records, supported by expert testimony for future components.
Alternative Names:
Special Damages, Pecuniary Damages
Why it Matters?
Economic damages anchor the entire award, because juries frequently scale non-economic damages as a multiple of the proven economic loss. That makes rigorous attack on the economic component the highest-leverage damages work available: challenging billed versus paid amounts, testing life care plan assumptions, and contesting work-life expectancy affect the non-economic award indirectly as well.
Frequently Confused with
Related terms
Frequently asked questions
How are future economic damages proven?
Why do economic damages matter beyond their own value?
