Personal Injury
Types of Damages in a New York Personal Injury Lawsuit
August 20, 2025
When you bring a personal-injury claim in New York, the compensation you can recover falls into a few main categories. Understanding them helps you set realistic expectations and ask the right questions of your attorney.
Economic damages
These are out-of-pocket losses that have a clear dollar value:
- Medical bills, both already incurred and reasonably expected in the future
- Lost wages, including missed work during recovery and reduced earning capacity going forward
- Property damage, such as a totaled vehicle
- Out-of-pocket expenses — co-pays, prescriptions, mileage to medical appointments, home modifications
Non-economic damages
These cover the harms that don’t show up on a bill:
- Pain and suffering, both physical and emotional
- Loss of enjoyment of life
- Disfigurement and scarring
- Loss of consortium — the impact of injury on the relationship with a spouse
Punitive damages
Available only in narrow circumstances — typically where a defendant’s conduct was willful, malicious, or grossly reckless. Most personal-injury cases do not involve punitive damages.
How New York’s no-fault system fits in
Auto-accident plaintiffs in New York generally must meet the “serious injury threshold” (Insurance Law § 5102(d)) before recovering pain-and-suffering damages from the at-fault driver. We help clients document and prove that threshold every day.
