
You can receive several different types of damages for a California personal injury claim. Non-economic damages are a category of compensatory damages.
These damages compensate you for the pain and suffering you experience because of another party’s actions.
Understanding Non-Economic Damages in a Santa Ana Personal Injury Case

Economic damages include the financial losses you incur after sustaining a personal injury or being involved in an accident. They include lost wages, property damage, and medical bills.
Non-economic damages are the intangible losses you incur. They represent your suffering at the hands of another person.
Common Types of Non-Economic Damages in a Santa Ana Personal Injury Case
California personal injury laws provide for several types of non-economic damages in personal injury cases, including:
Physical Pain and Suffering
Your injuries may cause minor aches and pains. However, you could suffer extreme pain from your injuries and the medical treatments you must endure.
Some victims may have chronic pain that continues for months or years after an injury. Chronic pain can be debilitating physically and emotionally. It may significantly impact your daily activities.
Emotional Distress and Mental Anguish
Emotional distress and mental anguish include but are not limited to, PTSD, anxiety, fear, and depression. A victim may experience various symptoms of emotional distress, including:
- Eating and/or sleeping problems
- Having difficulty readjusting to life post-accident
- Fatigue
- Mood swings
- Avoiding family or friends
- Losing interest in daily activities
- Avoiding situations that remind them of the accident or cause of injury
- Headaches and stomach pains
- Development of psychological disorders
Mental trauma and emotional distress can be debilitating. Severe psychological disorders may prevent a person from functioning as they did before their injury or accident.
Permanent Impairments and Disabilities
Sustaining lifelong impairments and disabilities can significantly impact a person’s enjoyment of life and quality of life. Depending on the severity and type of impairment or disability, a person may be unable to return to work, impacting their financial well-being.
Scarring and Disfigurement
Injuries can cause severe disfigurement and scarring. In addition to the physical consequences, a person may experience extreme distress over their appearance. They may be embarrassed by the way they look, which could lead to chronic depression and other psychological conditions.
Loss of Enjoyment of Life and Diminished Quality of Life
A person’s injuries could prevent them from engaging in activities they did before the accident. Some victims may be unable to engage in intimate relations or have children.
Injuries and lifelong impairments can significantly lower a person’s quality of life. They may not enjoy life to the level they did before they were injured. Loss of enjoyment of life and quality of life could be temporary while a person is healing, or it could be permanent if they sustain life-altering catastrophic injuries.
Factors Used To Put a Value on Non-Economic Damages in a Santa Ana Personal Injury Case
Because non-economic damages are intangible, we cannot point to a bill or invoice to determine how much the damages are worth. Instead, we analyze the factors in your case. Those factors include, but are not limited to:
- The type and severity of the injuries you suffered
- The length of your recovery
- The medical treatments required to treat your injuries
- The extent of your impairment and disabilities
- How your injuries impact your daily activities
- Your appearance before and after the injuries (i.e., disfigurement and scarring)
- How your injuries impact your relationships with family, friends, and others
- The level of pain your injuries cause each day
- Your ability to perform activities of daily living, such as feeding, bathing, dressing, and grooming
Our personal injury lawyers in Santa Ana work with leading experts as necessary to calculate the value of non-economic damages. We may work with medical specialists, vocational and life care planners, and financial professionals.
What Is the Statute of Limitations for Non-Economic Damages in California?
Your non-economic damages are part of your personal injury claim, so the deadline to file a lawsuit is determined by the type of claim and other factors. California sets a two-year statute of limitations in most personal injury cases. However, if you do not discover the injury right away, you could have one year after discovering the injury to file a lawsuit.
Factors in your case and exceptions to the statute of limitations could shorten or lengthen the deadline to file a personal injury lawsuit. Talk with one of our lawyers as soon as possible to discuss the deadline for filing a personal injury lawsuit in your case.
Learn More During a Free Consultation With Our Santa Ana Personal Injury Lawyers
You deserve to be compensated fairly for the pain and suffering another party caused because of their negligence or wrongdoing. Our lawyers at Robles Babaee, Personal Injury Lawyers diligently work to maximize your recovery for non-economic damages. Contact us today by calling (714) 263-3700 for a free case evaluation with an experienced personal injury lawyer in Santa Ana, CA.