What is the difference between economic and non-economic damages in a Georgia injury case?

· 3 min read

The core distinction is whether a loss comes with a receipt. Economic damages cover measurable, out-of-pocket financial harm; non-economic damages cover human losses that have no fixed price tag. Both are recoverable in a Georgia personal-injury case, but they are proven in very different ways.

Economic damages: the losses you can total up

Economic damages reimburse concrete monetary harm caused by the injury. They are documented with bills, records, and expert projections, and they aim to put a person back in the financial position they would have held but for the crash. Typical categories include:

  • Past and future medical treatment.
  • Lost wages and lost earning capacity.
  • Property damage, such as vehicle repair or replacement.
  • Out-of-pocket costs like prescriptions, mileage, and assistive devices.

Georgia treats these as “special damages,” meaning they must be proven to be recovered. That framework comes from O.C.G.A. § 51-12-2, which provides that special damages are those that actually flow from the wrongful act and must be shown by evidence rather than presumed.

Non-economic damages: the losses without an invoice

Non-economic damages compensate the personal, intangible toll of an injury. These cannot be tied to a bill, but Georgia law fully recognizes them. They include physical pain and suffering, mental and emotional distress, loss of the ability to enjoy daily life, and similar harms. In Georgia these fall under the “general damages” half of O.C.G.A. § 51-12-2, meaning the law presumes they flow from the wrongful act and they need not be proven to a fixed dollar amount the way special damages must be.

Because there is no ledger for these losses, no formula sets their value. Georgia leaves the measure to the “enlightened consciences of impartial jurors,” who weigh the evidence about the injury’s effect on the person’s life; for an injury directed entirely at a person’s peace, happiness, or feelings, O.C.G.A. § 51-12-6 makes that jury-conscience standard explicit.

How the two work together

Most serious claims involve both. A broken leg, for example, generates economic damages (surgery, therapy, missed paychecks) and non-economic damages (the pain of the injury and the months of limitation it imposes). Whatever the two categories add up to, Georgia’s percentage-based fault rule under O.C.G.A. § 51-12-33 applies to the combined figure without distinguishing between them. The same fault percentage charged to the injured person trims the documented economic dollars and the jury’s non-economic award by an identical proportion, and once that percentage reaches 50 the claimant collects neither. For ordinary injury claims, Georgia does not cap compensatory non-economic damages.

The distinction in a sentence

Economic damages are the provable dollars-and-cents losses; non-economic damages are the human costs of pain and lost enjoyment. A Georgia injury case usually seeks both, with the first proven by records and the second left to the jury’s judgment.

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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