What Is Included in Non-Economic Damages Settlements

Table of Contents

• What Are Non-Economic Damages in a Personal Injury Settlement?
  • The Difference Between Economic and Non-Economic Damages
• Examples of Non-Economic Damages in Injury Claims
  • Pain and Suffering
  • Emotional Distress and Mental Anguish
  • Loss of Enjoyment of Life
  • Loss of Consortium and Companionship
  • Disfigurement and Permanent Disability
• How to Calculate Pain and Suffering in Your Claim
  • The Multiplier Method: The Math Behind the Number
  • The Per Diem Method: Assigning a Daily Rate
  • Which Method Will the Adjuster Use?
• How to Document Pain and Suffering for a Claim
  • Start a Pain Journal With Specifics, Not Adjectives
  • Follow Every Treatment Recommendation Without Gaps
  • Get a Mental Health Evaluation if You Need One
  • Photograph Everything, Including What You Cannot Do
  • Collect Witness Statements Early
• State Caps on Non-Economic Damages: What to Expect
• Negotiating Non-Economic Damages With an Insurance Adjuster
• Conclusion: Get the Full Value of Your Non-Economic Damages Settlement
• Frequently Asked Questions

Last Updated: September 6, 2026

What Are Non-Economic Damages in a Personal Injury Settlement?

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Non-economic damages are monetary compensation for the intangible losses caused by an injury, covering pain, suffering, and diminished quality of life rather than direct financial costs. When you file a personal injury lawsuit, these losses often represent the largest portion of your claim’s value. At Merritt & Merritt Law Firm, we have over 45 years of trial experience helping injury victims pursue settlements that reflect the full human cost of an accident, not just the medical bills.

Personal injury attorney discussing non-economic damages with a client in a bright, professional law office.

If you have been injured in a car wreck, a slip and fall, or another accident caused by someone else’s negligence, you have likely heard the term from an insurance adjuster. What is included in non-economic damages settlement discussions matters because these figures are subjective, which means the insurance company will try to minimize them. Understanding what you are actually claiming is the first step toward avoiding a lowball offer.

The Difference Between Economic and Non-Economic Damages

Economic damages are straightforward: they cover out-of-pocket expenses like medical records, hospital stays, lost wages, and future loss of income. These are calculable because you have receipts and pay stubs.

Non-economic damages cover everything money can’t replace. They compensate you for subjective harm that has no invoice attached. The distinction matters because adjusters will readily pay documented expenses but often fight fiercely over intangible losses. Knowing the difference helps you recognize when an offer fails to account for your actual experience.

Examples of Non-Economic Damages in Injury Claims

Because the harm is invisible, examples of non-economic damages help illustrate what these claims actually cover. Each category represents a real, compensable loss that a jury or settlement negotiation can account for.

Pain and Suffering

Pain and suffering is the physical discomfort and distress you endure from the moment of the accident through your recovery. This includes ongoing pain from your injuries, the discomfort of medical procedures, and the physical impairment that limits your daily function. It is the most common and often the largest non-economic component in a settlement.

Emotional Distress and Mental Anguish

Beyond physical pain, many victims experience psychological trauma. Emotional distress covers anxiety, depression, fear, and sleep disruption directly caused by the accident. Mental anguish can include the shock of the event itself, post-accident phobias like refusing to drive, and the stress of coping with a changed life. These are legitimate claims when supported by treatment records or testimony.

Loss of Enjoyment of Life

This category compensates you when your injuries prevent you from doing the activities that once defined your life. If you loved hiking but now struggle with a permanent disability, or you coached your child’s team but can no longer stand for an hour, you have lost enjoyment of life. The claim acknowledges that your quality of life has diminished, not just your earning capacity.

Loss of Consortium and Companionship

When your injuries strain your closest relationships, your spouse or family may have a claim for loss of consortium. This covers the loss of society, companionship, and intimacy that a healthy relationship provides. It compensates the family member who now acts as a caregiver and has lost the partnership they once had.

Disfigurement and Permanent Disability

Visible scars, burns, or amputations carry a separate non-economic value beyond their medical treatment. Disfigurement can cause social stigma and emotional pain that lasts a lifetime. Similarly, permanent disability that prevents you from returning to your former work or lifestyle supports a higher claim valuation because the loss is ongoing rather than temporary.

How to Calculate Pain and Suffering in Your Claim

Most articles tell you that pain and suffering is calculated using a multiplier or a per diem rate, but they stop there. What is missing is the actual math an insurance adjuster runs on their spreadsheet before they make you an offer. Understanding that math is the only way to know whether the number they put on the table is a legitimate starting point or a lowball.

The Multiplier Method: The Math Behind the Number

The multiplier method starts with your “special damages”, the total of your medical bills, lost wages, and other out-of-pocket economic losses (law.cornell.edu). The adjuster then applies a factor, usually between 1.5 and 5, to that subtotal (peer-reviewed research). The result is the non-economic portion of your claim.

Here is the formula adjusters actually use:

Total Economic Damages × Multiplier = Non-Economic Damages

So if your medical bills and lost wages total $40,000 and the adjuster applies a 2.5 multiplier, the non-economic value is $100,000. Your total demand would be $140,000 before any deductions for comparative fault.

The multiplier is not random. It is tied to the severity of your injury, the clarity of liability, and the quality of your evidence. A simple soft-tissue injury with a quick recovery typically gets a 1.5 to 2. A fracture requiring surgery might justify a 3. Permanent disability, disfigurement, or injuries requiring multiple surgeries can push the multiplier to 4 or 5.

The weakness of this method is that it undervalues cases with low medical bills but severe pain. If you have $8,000 in bills but a year of chronic pain, a 3x multiplier yields only $24,000 for your suffering. That is why your attorney may argue for a higher multiplier or pivot to the per diem method when the math works against you.

The Per Diem Method: Assigning a Daily Rate

The per diem method assigns a dollar value to each day you have suffered, from the date of the accident until you reach maximum medical improvement (MMI), the point where your condition is not expected to improve further.

The formula is straightforward:

Daily Rate × Number of Days from Accident to MMI = Non-Economic Damages

A common starting point for the daily rate is your average daily wage, because it reflects the value of the life disruption you experienced (injuryfacts.nsc.org). If you earn $600 per day and your recovery takes 200 days, the calculation yields $120,000 in non-economic damages.

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This method works well for injuries with a defined recovery period, such as a broken leg that heals in eight months. It becomes awkward for permanent conditions. If you have lifelong nerve damage, there is no MMI date, and the adjuster will resist applying a daily rate indefinitely. In those cases, the multiplier method or a hybrid approach is more practical.

Which Method Will the Adjuster Use?

Insurance companies prefer the multiplier method because it ties your pain to your medical bills, which they can control and audit. The per diem method is more favorable to you when your bills are low but your recovery is long. Your demand letter should present the method that favors your case and explain why it is the fair one. If the adjuster uses a different method, ask them to show you their math. Most will not, because their internal guidelines often cap multipliers by injury type.

How to Document Pain and Suffering for a Claim

Insurance adjusters are trained to be skeptical of invisible injuries. They will assume you are exaggerating unless your file contains evidence that makes your pain undeniable. The difference between a $20,000 offer and a $150,000 settlement is often not the injury itself, it is the quality of the documentation. Here is what you need to build a file that survives scrutiny.

Start a Pain Journal With Specifics, Not Adjectives

A pain journal is only persuasive if it is specific. Writing “I feel terrible” does nothing. Writing “Could not lift my left arm above my shoulder to wash my hair; needed my spouse to help me dress; slept only three hours due to throbbing pain in my lower back” creates a picture an adjuster cannot dismiss.

Record entries daily, even when the pain is mild. Date every entry. Describe the activity you could not perform, the level of pain on a 1-to-10 scale, and how the limitation affected your mood, sleep, or relationships. A consistent record of 90 days of entries is far more powerful than a single dramatic paragraph written after you hired a lawyer.

Follow Every Treatment Recommendation Without Gaps

The single biggest red flag in a claim file is a gap in treatment. If your doctor recommends physical therapy twice a week and you attend twice, that shows you are serious about recovery. If you miss appointments or stop going because you feel fine, the adjuster will argue your pain was never severe.

Keep every document: emergency room records, radiology reports, physical therapy notes, chiropractic records, and prescription histories. If your doctor refers you to a specialist, go. If they recommend a pain management clinic, go. Each visit creates a professional record that corroborates your subjective complaints.

Get a Mental Health Evaluation if You Need One

Emotional distress is a compensable non-economic damage, but it requires proof. If you are experiencing anxiety, depression, nightmares, or avoidance behaviors after the accident, seek help from a licensed therapist or psychiatrist. Their diagnosis and treatment notes are powerful evidence. A diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder or adjustment disorder with anxiety carries weight because it comes from a trained professional, not from your own description of feeling sad.

Photograph Everything, Including What You Cannot Do

Photographs of your injuries, scars, braces, and surgical incisions are obvious. What most claimants miss is photographing the limitations. Take a picture of the pile of unopened mail you could not sort because of your wrist injury. Photograph the hiking boots you have not worn in eight months. These images tell the story of lost enjoyment of life in a way that words cannot.

Collect Witness Statements Early

People who knew you before the accident are your best witnesses. Ask your spouse, coworkers, and close friends to write down what they observed. A coworker who watched you leave early because of pain, a friend who noticed you stopped attending weekly gatherings, or a spouse who describes your sleepless nights and irritability all provide third-party corroboration. Their statements are most credible when written close to the event, not two years later at a deposition.

State Caps on Non-Economic Damages: What to Expect

Before you estimate your settlement, you must know whether your state limits how much you can recover. Some states impose a damages cap on non-economic awards in personal injury lawsuits, a policy often tied to tort reform efforts. These caps vary widely, and some apply only to medical malpractice rather than car accidents or premises liability.

Because the rules differ by jurisdiction, a figure that is reasonable in one state may be illegal in another. Your attorney must evaluate your claim under the specific law of the state where your accident occurred. If you are working with a firm that handles cases nationwide, confirm they know the cap structure that applies to your situation. An experienced attorney will tell you clearly whether a cap reduces your potential recovery before you invest time in litigation.

Negotiating Non-Economic Damages With an Insurance Adjuster

The insurance adjuster’s job is to settle your claim for as little as possible, and they will treat your pain and suffering as an exaggeration. Negotiating non-economic damages requires you to refuse to separate your injury from its human cost.

Never give a recorded statement or sign a release before your attorney reviews it. Adjusters will ask you to describe your recovery in ways that minimize your suffering, such as “you seem to be doing better now.” When you receive an initial offer, remember that it is a starting point, not a reflection of your claim’s value. Respond with a demand that itemizes your economic losses and explains your multiplier or per diem calculation.

Your use comes from your willingness to file a lawsuit if the offer remains unfair. An adjuster who knows your attorney has trial experience and will actually take the case to a jury is far more likely to make a serious offer.

Conclusion: Get the Full Value of Your Non-Economic Damages Settlement

Securing fair compensation for non-economic damages requires more than filing paperwork; it requires an advocate who can prove subjective harm to an insurance company. Merritt & Merritt Law Firm brings over 45 years of trial experience to every case, and we are prepared to visit you at home, in the office, or in the hospital to begin your claim. We operate on a contingency fee basis, meaning you pay only if we win, and we offer 24-hour service to start your case immediately.

Schedule a Free Consultation with our team and let us investigate your claim, document your pain and suffering, and negotiate for the full value of your settlement.