Personal Injury Compensation Types (California)

California law allows injury victims to be compensated for economic damages (medical bills, lost wages) and non-economic damages (pain, suffering, emotional distress). Punitive damages are available in cases of malice or fraud. While most personal injury damages are not capped, medical malpractice cases have a $250,000 limit on non-economic awards.

If you’ve been hurt because of someone else’s carelessness in California, you have the right to pursue compensation.

The law allows you to seek payment for your losses, but understanding the different personal injury compensation types California provides is critical to evaluating what your case is really worth.

In a personal injury lawsuit, “damages” is the formal term for the monetary compensation awarded to an injured plaintiff for their losses. Damages serve as a monetary amount to make an injury victim “whole again.” The goal is to return them to a similar condition as they were before the incident, or as much as possible. 

In this guide, we explain the two main categories of damages:

1. compensatory, and
2. punitive;

plus the damage caps that may affect your recovery.

Compensatory Damages

Compensatory damages (California Civil Code § 3333) are also often called actual damages. Compensatory damages are designed to pay an injury victim all that is needed to adequately compensate them for their financial costs and losses directly related to the injury.  

Courts will allow a plaintiff to recover compensatory damages for losses already incurred, present damages, and future damages. 

But, how are compensatory damages calculated? 

There is no set method by which California courts determine the number of compensatory damages to award.  However, they fall into two distinct categories:  

• Economic Damages and  
• Non-economic Damages

Economic Damages 

Typically, economic or special damages are losses that are more quantifiable or have a fixed monetary value. Medical bills and lost earnings are examples of special damages.  

Also called pecuniary damages, economic damages pay victims back for their actual financial expenses incurred as a result of the incident that injured them. 

Other examples of economic damages include: 

• Travel expenses for medical treatment and doctor appointments 
• Lost benefits, such as insurance coverage, retirement savings, or vacation days 
• Lost earning capacity 
• Medical care such as in-home nursing care or the cost of a rehabilitation facility 
• Home services, such as cleaning, cooking, lawn care, and maintenance 
• Medical and mobility equipment 
• Physical therapy expenses 
• Medications 
• Out of pocket expenses 

Non-Economic or General Damages 

General damages or non-economic damages are losses that are less quantifiable.  

Non-economic damages are more challenging to demonstrate because they are not tied to a doctor’s bill or a receipt. Nonetheless, individuals can include them in their personal injury damage claims because they often constitute a large portion of the listed losses. 

Every person and case will be different, so one person’s suffering may be greater than another’s. As such, a skilled personal injury attorney will make every effort to demonstrate the full value of a victim’s pain and suffering, and loss of quality of life.  

This ensures you can be fully compensated.   

Common non-economic damages include: 

•       Emotional distress
•       Mental anguish
•       Loss of consortium
•       Loss of enjoyment of life
•       Anxiety
•       Depression
•       PTSD
•       Embarrassment and isolation
•       Scarring and disfigurement
•       Permanent disability
•       Amputation or loss of limb

It’s crucial that accident victims maintain a pain journal throughout their recovery. Documenting the impact their injuries have on their daily lives is very valuable. 

Injured victims can also call family members, friends, co-workers, and treatment professionals to testify about how the changes they’ve undergone.  A qualified attorney will use every available method to present a compelling argument for fair compensation. 

Punitive Damages 

While the focus of personal injury damages is on helping the victim recover, other damages—called punitive damages—serve a different but important purpose. Punitive damages are reserved for cases in which the defendant engages in willful, wanton, or malicious conduct. These damages are awarded to punish the bad actor for their actions or inactions and to deter future similar conduct. 

In California, punitive damages are awarded when a personal injury case involves any of the following situations: 

•       Malice: Defined as intentional or despicable conduct
•       Oppression: Defined as subjecting another person to cruel and unjust hardship
•       Fraud: Defined as intentional misrepresentation of material facts

Punitive damages are also called exemplary damages in California, and state law requires a court to take the following three factors into consideration when determining whether or not to award them: 

•       The reprehensibility of the defendant’s conduct
•       The amount of compensatory damages awarded or actual harm suffered by the plaintiff
•       The defendant’s financial condition

The normal requirement to win a personal injury case is to provide proof of negligence through a preponderance of the evidence. However, to petition the court to award punitive damages, a personal injury lawyer must instead meet the doctrine of “clear and convincing evidence.” In most cases, the judge makes the decision whether to order punitive damages based on the facts of the case and when it will set a clear example to others. 

California Personal Injury Damages Caps 

In many personal injury cases, the amount of harm done is tremendous.  Individuals may lose their ability to work, care for themselves, or move freely.  In addition, plaintiffs may lose their abilities for decades, significantly increasing their costs of living. Their families may also suffer as they care for them. 

For example: 

Consider a 9-year-old child who suffers a paralyzing injury from a car accident caused by a drunk driver. Not only will that child require substantial medical treatment care, but one or both parents may need to dramatically alter their lives to care for the child. If the child can’t become independent in adulthood, those same parents must plan for the child’s welfare after their own demise. 

A damages cap is a legally mandated maximum amount that a court can award to a plaintiff in a case. In California, an injured victim is entitled to seek full compensation for every current and projected expense that results from the accident.  Compensatory damages in a personal injury case are not subject to a damages cap, with the exception of medical malpractice cases. 

The California Medical Injury Compensation Reform Act (MICRA), passed in 1975, set a limit of $250,000 cap on non-economic damages in medical malpractice cases. Doctors and hospitals lobby state legislatures hard to limit the amount of compensation victims of medical malpractice can win.  

Medicine is an inherently unpredictable discipline since even the most experienced physician can make a mistake or underestimate a patient’s response to treatment. Yet, the law also holds healthcare providers to a higher standard, although the law is less on the side of a patient seeking compensation. 

There is also no cap on the amount of punitive damages a judge or jury can award in a personal injury case.  This is why it’s vital to work with a seasoned personal injury attorney. At Curtis Legal Group, our lawyers understand the best way to present the supporting evidence to maximize compensation. 

Suffering Personal Injury Related to a Crime 

In some instances, a person may be injured as a result of a crime, such as robbery, burglary, or assault. There may be limited options, especially if the perpetrator has few assets and no insurance. Even if they do have insurance, most policies will not pay out if the harm was done during the commission of a crime. 

Depending on the circumstances of the crime, victims may be able to file against other parties for financial recovery.  

For example, if a person is accidentally shot during a store robbery, the victim could file a premises liability claim against the store owner for failing to maintain a safe property. This is not a sure thing, however, and it’s important to discuss the details during a case review with a qualified lawyer. 

When it comes to the other side of a crime, California does not allow convicted felons to recover damages from others if they are injured during a criminal act. So, if the robber slips on some spilled liquid in the store, suffering a traumatic brain injury, they can’t sue the store owner since they were robbing the store. 

Learn More About Personal Injury Damages (Free Consultations) 

There is no risk and no obligation to learn whether your personal injury case is valid and what personal injury damages you or a loved one could obtain. Contact Curtis Legal Group today for a free case evaluation.