Did you sustain injuries in a car accident or truck accident in South Carolina? If you’re considering filing a personal injury claim, you may have questions about economic vs. non-economic damages. What is the difference between economic damages and non-economic damages? What are some examples of each, and which one is worth more toward the total value of your claim?
Economic vs Non-economic Damages
When you’ve been injured in an accident that wasn’t your fault, you can pursue two types of compensation: economic and non-economic damages.
Economic damages are compensation for the money you have lost due to an accident caused by someone else that injured you. Non-economic damages are compensation for the intangible losses that result from that same kind of accident.
For example, the cost of your medical expenses after an accident is an economic loss. You can add up all your medical bills and determine how much money you have lost. Even in the case of future or hypothetical expenses, you can still put a number on it. For instance, if you can’t work due to an injury, you can calculate how much money you will lose by not working. You can even calculate the likely effect on your income of losing the opportunity to get a promotion at work or continue developing your career. These are economic losses, and the compensation for those losses is called “economic damages.”
The pain and suffering you experience because of your injury is a noneconomic loss. You can suffer terrible pain every day without necessarily losing any money at all. However, if you’re experiencing pain and suffering, you may see that experience as more significant harm than any economic loss. The impact of pain on your quality of life could be much more significant than a loss of income. The compensation for these losses is called “non-economic damages.”
Economic losses are more straightforward to assess in personal injury cases, but noneconomic losses can sometimes account for a greater share of settlements or jury awards.
What Are Economic Damages?
The South Carolina Noneconomic Damage Awards Act of 2005 defines economic damage as a type of damage involving money loss or pecuniary damages. These damages arise from:
- Medical expenses
- Rehabilitation services
- Educational expenses
- Custodial care expenses
- Lost wages
- Loss of earning capacity
- Burial expenses
- Loss of use of property
- Costs of repairing or replacing property
- Costs of domestic services
- Loss of spousal services
- Loss of employment
- Loss of business opportunities
- Loss of employment opportunities
- Loss of retirement income
Although these are typical examples, you can also sue for economic damages for other monetary losses. Anything that results in the loss of money could be covered by economic damages.
What Are Noneconomic Damages?
The South Carolina Noneconomic Damage Awards Act of 2005 defines non-economic damages as nonpecuniary, meaning you have lost something other than money. These damages are compensation for:
- Pain and suffering
- Inconvenience
- Physical impairment
- Disfigurement
- Mental anguish
- Emotional distress
- Loss of companionship
- Loss of consortium, which refers to the companionship of a spouse
- Loss of enjoyment of life
- Injury to the reputation
- Humiliation
Non-economic damages can also cover any other losses that don’t involve money.
The Value of Economic Damages vs Non-economic Damages
According to the South Carolina Law Review, it is much more difficult to accurately assess the value of non-economic damages than economic damages because concepts like pain and suffering are inherently subjective and difficult to measure.
Despite this fact, non-economic damages can significantly increase the value of a personal injury claim. The insurance company or your lawyer will likely calculate your damages using one of two methods:
- The multiplier method takes your total economic losses and multiplies that by another number between 1.5 and 5. The higher the number, the more severe your injury. For instance, your demand for non-economic damages might be three times the amount of your economic damages.
- The per diem method assigns a value for one day’s worth of your noneconomic losses and then multiplies that number by the total number of days you will experience those losses. The chosen number is often equivalent to the wages you earn in one day.
These calculation methods do not bind juries and can assign a value to your noneconomic losses that align with the jury instructions.
South Carolina does not cap non-economic damages except in medical malpractice cases or lawsuits against the government. Under South Carolina law, non-economic damages were capped in 2005 at $350,000 per claimant in medical malpractice cases. This amount is adjusted each year for inflation. In 2024, the cap for non-economic damages was $564,168 per healthcare provider.
Contact a South Carolina Personal Injury and Victims’ Rights Law Firm
An experienced South Carolina personal injury lawyer can help you pursue the full compensation you deserve for your injuries, including economic, non-economic, and possibly punitive damages.
Evans Moore, LLC is a personal injury law firm with a national reputation. Since 2010, we have collected more than $100 million for our clients. We have won multiple awards, such as the Super Lawyers and Best Lawyers in America designations. Contact Evans Moore, LLC through our online form or at (843) 995-5000 for your free consultation with our attorneys today. Ask us anything related to your case.