Can a Georgia jury award for the intangible value of life without dollar evidence?

· 3 min read

Yes. Georgia law allows a jury to award for the intangible value of a lost life even when no witness puts a dollar figure on it. The intangible portion of the full value of the life is, by its nature, not something proven with receipts or expert calculations, and Georgia entrusts it to the jury to value using judgment rather than arithmetic.

The intangible value needs no price tag

The full value of the life of the decedent, recoverable under O.C.G.A. § 51-4-1 and following, includes both an economic part and an intangible part. The intangible part represents the worth of living itself, the experiences, relationships, and enjoyment that defined the person. These have genuine value but no market price, and Georgia does not require them to be supported by monetary evidence before a jury may compensate for their loss.

This is a deliberate feature of the law. Requiring dollar proof for something inherently unquantifiable would make the intangible value impossible to recover, so Georgia instead places the assessment in the jury’s hands.

The “enlightened conscience” standard

Georgia tells jurors to value the intangible loss using their “enlightened conscience,” meaning their collective experience, sense of fairness, and knowledge of human affairs. There is no formula, no chart, and no expert opinion that can dictate the number. Several points follow from this:

  • Jurors may award an intangible figure without any witness having proposed an amount.
  • The same loss can be valued differently by different juries.
  • The award is not arbitrary in the sense of being lawless; it must still be grounded in the evidence about the decedent’s life and rendered in good faith.

Limits that still apply

A jury’s freedom here is broad but not unlimited. The intangible award cannot rest on passion, prejudice, or pure speculation, and a verdict that is grossly excessive or unsupported can be reviewed by the court. The economic component of the same case is treated differently, because that part is informed by concrete proof of earnings and services. The two stand side by side within a single recovery, one resting on evidence and the other on the jury’s reasoned judgment.

The bottom line

A Georgia jury may award for the intangible value of a life without any dollar evidence, because that value is committed to the jury’s enlightened conscience rather than to calculation. The award must still be tied to the evidence about the decedent and free of passion or speculation, but it does not depend on a witness assigning it a number.

This article is for general educational and informational purposes only and is not legal advice. It does not create an attorney-client relationship, and Georgia law may change. For advice about a specific situation, consult a licensed Georgia personal injury attorney.

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