When you file a claim for damages in civil court, you can typically seek two types of damages: pecuniary damages and non pecuniary damages.
While the two types of damages are very different, they are equally relevant in civil claims. If you are considering filing a claim for damages in Colorado, you should know the characteristics of each. By doing so, you can help ensure that you recover the entirety of the damages you are owed.
After all, if someone else’s negligence causes you injury, you deserve compensation for all the losses you suffer.
What Is the Difference Between Pecuniary and Non Pecuniary Damages?
The law often refers to pecuniary economic damage and non pecuniary damages as economic damages and non economic damages. Pecuniary or economic damages are the damages you suffer that are tangible and have a readily identifiable cost.
Medical bills, lost wages, and lost employment benefits are all pecuniary losses in Colorado. Because they are tangible and have an identifiable value, recovering pecuniary damages in Colorado civil claims is relatively straightforward.
In contrast, non pecuniary or non economic damages are, by their nature, intangible losses. The pain, trauma, and anguish that you might feel after an injury are all forms of non pecuniary damage.
Non pecuniary damages also include things like losing a limb, experiencing permanent disfigurement, or losing the ability to do something you once loved. As you can see, despite their intangible nature, non pecuniary damages are just as real as pecuniary damages.
Because they are intangible, non pecuniary losses are harder to place a value on than pecuniary losses. Furthermore, they are often harder to identify and prove in court than pecuniary losses.
Are There Caps on Pecuniary Damages?
Many states cap the amount of damages that you can seek in a civil claim. While Colorado law does not cap the amount of pecuniary losses one can recover in a civil claim, there is a cap on non pecuniary losses. It is logical to leave economic damages uncapped.
Of course you should recover whatever tangible and easily evaluable damage you suffer. Conversely, however, non economic losses have a cap due to their inherently subjective nature. In all but rare instances, the cap on non pecuniary damages in Colorado is just over $500,000.
If You Need to Seek Damages for a Colorado Injury
There are no two ways about it: if someone else’s negligence injured you in Colorado, you deserve full compensation for the damages you suffered.
To ensure you recover all your pecuniary and non pecuniary damages, call the team at Tenge Law Firm for a free consultation today.
Our only objective is our clients’ satisfaction, and there is no length we won’t go to in order to make that happen. With offices in Boulder, Fort Collins, and Denver, we are never far, so call us today!
