California Car Accident Pain & Suffering Damages
UPDATED: Jul 16, 2021
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Published Legal Expert
UPDATED: Jul 16, 2021
It’s all about you. We want to help you make the right legal decisions.
We strive to help you make confident insurance and legal decisions. Finding trusted and reliable insurance quotes and legal advice should be easy. This doesn’t influence our content. Our opinions are our own.
Editorial Guidelines: We are a free online resource for anyone interested in learning more about legal topics and insurance. Our goal is to be an objective, third-party resource for everything legal and insurance related. We update our site regularly, and all content is reviewed by experts.
UPDATED: Jul 16, 2021
It’s all about you. We want to help you make the right legal decisions.
We strive to help you make confident insurance and legal decisions. Finding trusted and reliable insurance quotes and legal advice should be easy. This doesn’t influence our content. Our opinions are our own.
UPDATED: Jul 16, 2021
It’s all about you. We want to help you make the right legal decisions.
We strive to help you make confident insurance and legal decisions. Finding trusted and reliable insurance quotes and legal advice should be easy. This doesn’t influence our content. Our opinions are our own.
Under California law, “damages” are defined as the amount of money that is awarded to compensate someone who has been harmed by another’s wrongdoing or negligence. Whether you are negotiating your car accident case with an insurance company or fighting it out in court, it all comes down to damages. How much are you owed (or do you have to pay?) as a result of the accident?
There are two broad categories of damages available: Economic and Non-Economic. Damages for pain and suffering fall into the non-economic category and are often the most controversial part of any auto accident case, partly because they are not easily defined or quantified, and partly because they can make up a very substantial part of any injured party’s overall recovery. Following is a break-down of the types of harm covered under economic and non-economic damages:
In auto accident cases, economic damages may include:
- Medical expenses – past and future
- Lost wages – past and future
- Lost earning capacity
- Loss of ability to provide household services
- Damage to real property (i.e., a car hits a house)
- Loss of use of real property
- Damage to personal property (your car, for example)
- Loss or destruction of personal property
- Damage to personal property having a special value (i.e., family photos)
- Loss of use of personal property
- Lost profits
Non-economic damages may include:
- Physical pain
- Mental suffering
- Emotional distress
- Loss of consortium (loss of spousal companionship and services)
California operates under a “tort liability system” that governs how pain and suffering claims are to be litigated. In short, the tort liability system allows the jury to decide, exclusively, the amount of damages to be paid to someone for car accident injuries. There are no restrictions on who can or cannot sue for personal injury damages. The jury looks at the amount of money the plaintiff is requesting for each item of harm and decides if that amount is reasonable. To see how juries go about this task, see How do insurance companies and juries assign values to pain and suffering? Before it goes into deliberation, the jury receives instructions from the court (see Resources below) about the laws governing each decision the jury needs to make.
Resources:
Document Your Pain and Suffering Claim (Checklist): A checklist that helps you document your economic and non-economic damages. An invaluable tool to record and prove how much your pain and suffering claim is worth.
California Jury Instructions for Non-Economic Damages: Jury instructions are given to jurors before they enter into deliberation in the jury room. The instructions are designed to help jurors understand the laws applicable to the case for which they are sitting. Sections 3905, 3905A, and 3920 of this document cover instructions for non-economic damages.
California Jury Instructions for Economic Damages: Sections 3903A through 3903N of this documents cover instructions for economic damages.
Free Advice Auto Insurance Center: Articles, FAQ, free quotes and research links.
Back to California Car Accident Resources and Statutes.
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Mary Martin
Published Legal Expert
Mary Martin has been a legal writer and editor for over 20 years, responsible for ensuring that content is straightforward, correct, and helpful for the consumer. In addition, she worked on writing monthly newsletter columns for media, lawyers, and consumers. Ms. Martin also has experience with internal staff and HR operations. Mary was employed for almost 30 years by the nationwide legal publi...
Published Legal Expert
Editorial Guidelines: We are a free online resource for anyone interested in learning more about legal topics and insurance. Our goal is to be an objective, third-party resource for everything legal and insurance related. We update our site regularly, and all content is reviewed by experts.