What are economic damages?
Economic damages are the parts of an injury claim you can add up from paper: medical bills, lost wages, reduced future earnings, repair costs and other out-of-pocket losses. California defines them as objectively verifiable monetary losses such as medical expenses and loss of earnings. They are often called special damages.
Last checked November 9, 2026 · Official sources (5)
What do economic damages include? An example
Example: a ladder at a store falls on a warehouse worker who was shopping on her day off. Her losses with a price tag, using round invented numbers:
- Hospital and follow-up care billed at $20,000
- Eight weeks of missed shifts at $750 a week, or $6,000
- Childcare she had to pay while in a sling, $1,200
- A replaced phone and glasses, $800
That is $28,000 of economic damages. Her pain and the months she could not lift her toddler are real losses too, but they are non-economic and are argued separately.
Why do economic damages matter for your claim?
Adjusters start with this number because it is the easiest to check. Missing paperwork means missing money, so save every bill, explanation of benefits, pay stub and mileage log for medical visits.
They also set limits elsewhere. In Texas the cap on exemplary damages is figured partly from two times the economic damages.
How do Texas and Arizona count medical bills?
| State | Rule for medical expenses |
|---|---|
| Texas | Recovery is limited to the amount actually paid or incurred by or for the injured person. A $20,000 bill that health insurance settled for $9,000 may count as $9,000. |
| Arizona | Jurors are told to award reasonable expenses for necessary medical care already incurred and reasonably probable in the future. |
Economic vs. non-economic damages
Economic damages have a receipt. Non-economic damages, like pain, anxiety and lost enjoyment of life, do not, so they are argued from your story and your records. Texas defines economic damages as compensation for actual economic or pecuniary loss.
The line matters because some laws treat the two kinds differently, for example caps that apply only to non-economic damages in certain cases. Future losses can be economic too: a surgery your doctor says you will need, or a lower-paying job you had to take because you can no longer lift heavy loads.
Questions
Are lost wages economic damages?
Yes. California's definition lists loss of earnings with medical expenses.
Do future medical costs count?
They can if they are reasonably probable. Arizona's instruction covers expenses reasonably probable to be incurred in the future.
Find out if you are owed money.
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See if I’m owed moneySources (5)
- Cal. Civ. Code § 1431.2(b)(1), checked 2026-11-09. “"economic damages" means objectively verifiable monetary losses including medical expenses, loss of earnings, burial costs, loss of use of property, costs of repair or replacement”
- Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 41.0105, checked 2026-11-09. “recovery of medical or health care expenses incurred is limited to the amount actually paid or incurred by or on behalf of the claimant.”
- Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 41.008(b), checked 2026-11-09. “Exemplary damages awarded against a defendant may not exceed an amount equal to the greater of: (1)(A) two times the amount of economic damages; plus (B) an amount equal to any noneconomic damages found by the jury, not to exceed $750,000; or (2) $200,000.”
- Revised Arizona Jury Instructions (Civil), Personal Injury Damages (State Bar of Arizona), checked 2026-11-09. “Reasonable expenses for necessary medical care, treatment, and services already incurred and reasonably probable to be incurred in the future.”
- Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 41.001(4), checked 2026-11-09. “"Economic damages" means compensatory damages intended to compensate a claimant for actual economic or pecuniary loss; the term does not include exemplary damages or noneconomic damages.”