- May 1, 2025
- Tucker Law
- Personal Injury Lawsuits
If you’re injured due to the actions of another party, you have the right to seek compensation from them through a lawsuit or by filing an insurance claim against an applicable policy under which they’re covered. Any money you receive as part of a personal injury claim is known as “damages.” There are several types of personal injury damages you can potentially receive, depending on the circumstances of your case. Each of these forms of compensation is treated differently. Understanding the differences regarding compensatory vs. punitive damages can significantly impact whether you get enough money to recover from a serious injury.
Compensatory vs. Punitive Damages
Addressing the Causes and Effects of Personal Injuries
Compensatory and punitive damages are two of the main categories of damages available in personal injury cases. The former are usually further separated into economic and non-economic damages. An injury victim filing a legal claim after a car accident might receive both economic and non-economic damages.
By contrast, punitive damages are quite rare and tend to apply only in cases involving egregious negligence, oversight, or malice.
Economic Damages
Economic damages provide compensation for expenses and other losses associated with injuries. If you’ve suffered a particular loss, you should be able to produce a receipt for it. For example, if you’ve been sent a medical bill, you should have a copy of the bill and proof that you paid it.
You can use this evidence to demonstrate exactly how much you’ve lost due to an injury. If you haven’t yet experienced financial harm but expect to, you should also be able to document why and how much. This might be true if you know that your injury will require more surgery in the future and that you’ll miss work because of that procedure. Your lawyer can gather documentation showing that you’ll likely suffer future financial harm and how much.
Proper documentation is key for securing economic damages. You should be able to provide proof of every dollar associated with your claimed losses.
Non-Economic Damages
Economic damages repay you for the financial hardship you endure due to an injury. However, there are also other types of losses you can incur. If you have a broken leg, for example, you might be in excruciating pain for days or even weeks. While such pain will eventually fade, you never would have experienced it if the other party hadn’t been negligent.
Under New York law, you’re entitled to seek compensation to make up for the pain and suffering you experience after an injury caused by negligence. Unlike with economic damages, however, there’s no way to calculate the specific cost of that pain. Instead, attorneys use various techniques to determine a fair value, which is usually based on the total value of any economic damages.
It’s important to note that non-economic damages are somewhat uncommon in car accident cases. New York uses a no-fault car insurance system. This means that with most accidents, a driver can get compensation from their insurance policy, regardless of who was at fault, and can’t sue other drivers. You’re allowed to sue — and thereby obtain non-economic damages — only if you suffer an injury that meets the state’s serious injury threshold.
Have you been seriously injured due to the carelessness of another party in New York? The skilled personal injury attorneys at Tucker Lawyers may be able to help you get fair compensation. Contact us at (516) 399-2364 today to schedule a free consultation.
Punitive Damages
Punitive damages are a form of compensation an injury victim can receive when the party that injured them is deemed to have acted intentionally or so recklessly that the court sees fit to punish their actions. The value of punitive damages isn’t tied to the value of your injuries but rather to how egregious the defendant’s behavior was. This form of damages is rare because people rarely engage in behavior that’s deliberately injurious or flagrantly defies social norms.
What type of behavior might result in punitive damages? It’s difficult to provide definitive examples, as juries award punitive damages after contemplating the specific details of a case. As such, different juries might take different behaviors to task.
However, if someone were to intentionally spray bleach into your eyes because they held a grudge against you, this kind of intentional action could result in an award of punitive damages. This type of compensation is effectively a fine the defendant is ordered to pay to the plaintiff to discourage repeat behavior.
Pursuing Various Types of Damages
The only way to receive punitive damages is to file a lawsuit against the responsible party and take your case to trial. You can petition the court for a value that you consider appropriate, but the jury is under no obligation to respect your request. The jurors will make the final decision, and the judge must approve the value. If a jury inappropriately assigns punitive damages, a judge can nullify such an award as a matter of law.
Conversely, there are numerous ways to get compensatory damages. If you file an insurance claim, the insurance company will consider the value of your losses and offer you a settlement to resolve the claim. You can either accept their offer or negotiate for a higher value. If you’re working with an attorney, they can handle the negotiations on your behalf using evidence they acquired to support your claim.
When an experienced lawyer negotiates an injury settlement, they almost always fight to recover both economic and non-economic damages for their client. Insurers will rarely offer non-economic damages if you don’t have a personal injury lawyer representing you. If you can’t agree to a fair settlement, you have the right to file a lawsuit and go after compensatory damages in court.
Speak With a Qualified New York Personal Injury Attorney Today
Depending on the circumstances of your accident, you may be entitled to receive multiple types of damages. The knowledgeable attorneys at Tucker Lawyers understand the many forms of compensation available and will work hard to get you the payment you deserve.
If you’ve been injured in an accident that wasn’t your fault, contact Tucker Lawyers today at (516) 399-2364 to schedule a free consultation with a trusted personal injury lawyer.
Managing Attorney John. J. Tucker, Esq.
John has personally handled thousands of clients who were victims of another’s negligence and fights relentlessly for their rights. John enjoys bringing closure to a client’s matter so that the injured party can move forward with their life. His background enables him to evaluate complex liability related claims and bring resolution to claims in a record time frame. [ Attorney Bio ]