What Are General Damages? Definition & Examples (2024)

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Damages are a remedy a plaintiff requests from the defendant in a civil case. Damages are awarded when people (or companies) sue each other. If a plaintiff files a civil lawsuit, this is not the same as a criminal case where a defendant could potentially be sentenced to jail or community service. Instead, the defendant may be ordered to pay a plaintiff money to compensate the plaintiff for losses.

The plaintiff requests monetary compensation for losses the defendant caused so the plaintiff can be “made whole.” This means being put back to the position they would likely have been in had a defendant not wronged them in some way.

If you make an injury claim under tort law, general damages refer to losses suffered that it can be difficult to put a clear price on. This is in contrast to special damages.

Special damages in personal injury law can be calculated directly by adding up the bills a plaintiff has paid due to their injuries, the wages lost due to their injuries and the future bills and lost wages a plaintiff will experience. That’s because special damages pay for things like medical bills, loss of wages and loss of earning power due to injuries, and property damage.

General damages, on the other hand, arise out of the injury but don’t involve actual financial loss. Instead, with general damages, the plaintiff is being compensated for intangible things, such as pain and suffering, emotional distress, loss of companionship or consortium, lost quality of life and disfigurement or permanent impairment.

When you file a claim for breach of contract,general damages are the losses that occur as a direct and inevitable result of the breach happening. These are the obvious losses that anyone who was party to the contract would face due to the breach.

If Joe entered into a contract for Amir to fix his roof and Joe paid $1,000 in exchange for Amir’s promise to do the repairs, Joe would be owed $1,000 in general damages if Amir breached the contract by failing to make the promised fixes.

By contrast, special damages in contract law are damages that result in losses that occurred because of the plaintiff’s specific situation that the defendant was aware of. They occur as a natural consequence of the breach, but wouldn’t necessarily affect any party to a similar contract that wasn’t fulfilled.

If Amir knew that Joe would lose out on hosting a big event at his house (for which Joe was being paid $2,000) if the roof wasn’t fixed, this lost $2,000 might be awarded to Joe as special damages.

If you are involved in either a breach of contract claim or a tort claim, chances are good you will receive general damages. However, you need to prove the extent of your losses and show the harm you endured as a result of the wrongful act committed against you.

In a breach of contract claim, general damages can be easy to prove and to calculate because they are the obvious and inevitable result of a failure to fulfill the contract’s terms. It can be more complicated to prove the extent of loss in a personal injury claim because the damages, by definition, are intangible and don’t have a specific price attached.

An experienced attorney can provide help in demonstrating the extent of general damages suffered and maximizing the compensation available. It is important to have the right attorney familiar with your type of case. So, for example, you would want a tort lawyer if you were making an injury claim and a contract lawyer for a breach of contract case.

It’s best to hire an attorney as soon as possible when you have been wronged, as your lawyer can help you from day one in gathering the evidence you need to prove damages and get the money you deserve.