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General Damages

Compensatory damages can be divided into two categories, one of which is called general damages. General damages are the natural outcome of the defendant’s behavior or contract infringement; these damages can be classified as the direct result of an injury or breach of contract. General damages cannot be used against the defendant if they are based on sheer assumption and not some level of factual data. They simply need to be proven in a court of law to find the defendant liable. An example of a general damage is when a claimant’s medical treatment is the proximate result of the defendant’s negligence behind the wheel of an automobile, thus resulting in some sort of harmful accident.

In cases consisting of tort, the ability to anticipate the injury does not usually restrict recovery in terms of general damages. For instance, using the example of an auto accident, assume that the plaintiff has a rare condition that is considerably aggravated by the injury and drastically inhibits their recovery process. The defendant is responsible for all unexpected medical fees based on the claimant’s current state. In breach of contract cases, the victim is owed the amount of compensation equivalent to the total value of the contract had it been fulfilled.

Compensatory damages that can be gauged monetarily care known as pecuniary damages. To determine general damages in a breach of contract lawsuit, the plaintiff may utilize market reports, expert testimony, comparable sales, or other techniques to support their estimation of the total value lost (i.e., loss of expectancy or loss of bargain). Compensation for a claimant’s hospital and physician bills in a personal injury case would also be considered a pecuniary award.