Damages in Texas personal injury cases fall into one of three categories: economic, non-economic, and exemplary damages. A personal injury claim can compensate you for your medical bills, lost earnings, long-term care costs, pain and suffering, emotional distress, and disfigurement. Depending on the circumstances of your injury, you may also obtain an award of exemplary damages from the at-fault party.
Proving damages is often challenging, requiring a preponderance of the evidence and plenty of admissible evidence, particularly non-economic losses. Stick with the knowledgeable attorneys at The Wilhite Law Firm as we review the different types of damages in personal injury cases, the state-imposed caps on monetary awards, and how our state’s modified comparative fault rule applies to claims.
What Are Economic Damages?
Economic losses, also called compensatory damages, are tangible, measurable costs that were directly related to whatever incident caused your injury. Whether that was a fall at a grocery store or a car collision near your child’s school, in a personal injury case, they can compensate for financial losses incurred due to an accident. Common examples of economic damages include:
Medical Expenses
The extent of your medical costs will depend on the type and severity of your injuries. However, this may include the costs of:
- Emergency medical care
- Ambulance bills
- Hospitalizations
- Surgeries and other medical procedures
- Diagnostic tests, CT scans, and MRIs
- Follow up doctor’s appointments
- Prescriptions
- Medical and mobility equipment
- Physical, occupational, and speech therapy
In a personal injury lawsuit, you should seek compensation for your past, ongoing, and future anticipated medical expenses. But it is important to note that under Texas law §41.0105, the amount of money you are legally entitled to recover is the amount actually paid or incurred, rather than the initial amount billed by the medical facility.
Once you settle a personal injury claim or win your lawsuit, you cannot “reopen” your claim to pursue more compensation from a liable party if you have additional healthcare expenses in the future. Your treating physicians and medical experts can provide reports and testimony to estimate what future medical costs you will likely incur.
Loss of Income
You have the right to pursue compensation for lost income or loss of future earning capacity caused by your injuries. You may lose income if you have to miss work to heal from your injuries. Or you may make less if you must work part-time or light duty due to your medical restrictions. You could also seek compensation for loss of future earning capacity and job benefits if your injuries are so severe that you cannot return to work.
Property Damage
You may recover compensation for damage to your personal property caused by the accident that injured you. For example, you could seek compensation for:
- Repair costs for vehicle damage sustained in an accident
- Towing fees
- Rental car costs
- Compensation for the drop in a car’s market value (even after repair)
- Loss of personal property, like child car seats, cell phones, or clothing
- Repairs for home or structure damage caused by negligent construction
- Personal property lost during a slip and fall accident, such as a laptop
- Damage to business equipment or inventory
Out-of-Pocket Expenses
You may also recover compensation for other out-of-pocket expenses you incur due to your injuries. If you cannot perform those tasks yourself or if you need assistance with permanent disabilities you’ve suffered, you may be able to file a claim for:
- Insurance copays and deductibles
- Over-the-counter medication, bandages, and braces
- Crutches and wheelchair rentals
- Transportation expenses, including gas, mileage, and parking fees
- Public transportation costs to travel to and from the doctor’s office
- Hotel stays for out-of-town medical treatments
- Housekeeping
- Childcare
- Home health services
- Home modifications, such as wheelchair ramp installation and widening doorways
How Are Economic Damages Calculated?
Economic damages for medical expenses are calculated by referring to bills, invoices, and receipts. You’ll use your pay stubs, income statements, or tax returns to determine lost wages.
Recovering future economic damages often requires expert testimony from your treating physicians and medical, vocational, and financial experts. They can calculate the value of your future medical expenses, out-of-pocket costs, and lost income.
What Are Non-Economic Damages?
Non-economic damages are your subjective, non-monetary losses. These types of damages in personal injury cases are not as easy to quantify as economic damages and often include personal and emotional losses you suffer due to your injuries. Common examples of non-economic damages include:
Pain and Suffering
You can recover compensation for physical pain and emotional suffering from your injuries or medical treatments, such as pain from surgeries or other medical procedures, PTSD, anxiety, depression, insomnia, and other sleep disturbances.
Scarring, Disability, and Permanent Impairment
You may also have the right to a financial award for visible scarring and permanent disabilities that result from your injuries. Compensation for lasting physical and aesthetic damages that alter a victim’s life, such as facial scars from glass, limb amputation, and paralysis.
Loss of Quality of Life
Compensation may include money for the loss of quality of life you suffer due to disfigurement, disabilities, or reduced life expectancy caused by your injuries. Examples of these non-economic damages include the inability to play your favorite sports, enjoy your lifelong painting hobby, or hold your grandchild.
Loss of Consortium
Loss of consortium refers to damages that the spouse of a personal injury victim can recover when injuries interfere with the marital relationship. This interference may involve the loss of an injured spouse’s:
- Companionship
- Affection
- Love
- Society
- Guidance
- Sexual relationship
A loss of consortium claim belongs solely to the uninjured spouse. However, the claim depends on the success of the injured spouse’s personal injury case. Both claims get litigated together.
How Are Non-Economic Damages Calculated?
Calculating non-economic damages involves a subjective analysis of an injury victim’s suffering – unlike economic damages, which are based on expenses. The value of non-economic damages is based mainly on the severity of an injury victim’s pain and suffering. These damages are often calculated using either the multiplier or per diem method:
- Multiplier method – Under the multiplier method, a number between 1.5 and 5 is assigned to the injury victim’s pain and suffering. This number is then multiplied by the economic damages to produce a total amount.
- Per diem method – For the per diem method, a daily value is assigned to the injury victim’s pain and suffering. That value is multiplied by the number of days the person experiences those losses to produce a total for non-economic damages.
What Are Exemplary Damages?
Exemplary damages, also called punitive damages, do not compensate a personal injury victim for financial or personal losses they’ve incurred due to their injuries. Instead, exemplary damages punish the at-fault party for their reckless, egregious, or willful conduct. They also work to deter future similar acts of gross negligence, malice, or fraud. Common examples in Texas include:
- Drunk driving accidents
- Physical attacks
- Sexual abuse
- Death threats
- Unlawful confinement
- Extreme speeding in school zones
- Ignoring known, critical safety failures at workplaces
- Nursing home staff neglecting patient needs
- Ignoring prior slip-and-fall reports
- Altering safety records after an injury
- Concealing known defects in products
What Must Be Proven in a Personal Injury Case?
To recover damages in most personal injury cases, a plaintiff must prove that the other party acted negligently and caused their injuries. Establishing negligence requires the plaintiff to prove that the at-fault party failed to fulfill a duty of care they owed the plaintiff, directly causing the injury.
In addition to proving fault, a plaintiff must prove the damages they’ve incurred to a reasonable degree of certainty. This means a plaintiff cannot guess the amount of damages. Instead, they must present documents and testimony that establish a dollar value for the compensation they deserve to recover.
Does Texas Have Caps on Damages in Personal Injury Cases?
Yes. Texas law applies caps on certain damages in personal injury cases. These caps apply to specific types of personal injury claims, defendants, or damages. Texas caps on personal injury damages include:
- Medical malpractice – Non-economic damages in medical malpractice claims are capped at $250,000 from healthcare providers and $250,000 per facility or hospital, with a total cap of $500,000 from all medical facilities. That means you can recover a maximum of $750,000 in a medical malpractice case.
- Exemplary damages – Exemplary damages are capped at $200,000 or two times the compensatory damages award (up to $750,000), whichever is greater.
- Government claims – In claims against state or local government entities, damages are capped at $250,000 per person and $500,000 per accident.
Does Texas’ Comparative Negligence Rule Affect Damages?
Yes. Texas’ comparative negligence rule significantly affects personal injury damages by reducing compensation based on the claimant’s percentage of fault. Under the “51 Percent Bar Rule,” you can only recover damages if you are 50 percent or less to blame for the accident.
For example, pretend you were in a car accident and the insurance adjustor determined that you were 20 percent at fault for the collision, because you were speeding. In this scenario, you would forfeit 20 percent of your damage claim. If your losses were $10,000, you would only be entitled to collect $8,000 or 20 percent less than your total damages.
Contact a Texas Personal Injury Lawyer
If you’ve suffered injuries in an accident caused by someone else, you may have the right to recover compensation for your losses. Reach out to the compassionate legal team at The Wilhite Law Firm today for a free, no-obligation consultation with one of our resolute Texas personal injury lawyers.
This is the ideal time to discuss your specific injury, legal options, and what types of damages in personal injury cases you may be able to claim. Learn how these apply to your particular case and tell us what type of accident occurred and estimated total losses, so we can get to work on your claim before the state’s statute of limitations expires.
