Anyone that has been in a car accident case eventually arrives at a point when they want to know who is going to compensate them for their lost wages, medical bills, pain and suffering and a variety of other expenses that are a result of the accident. In legal terms, these are called "damages". All states allow an injured person to be compensated for damages, but states may differ as far as what they consider to be damages. According to Los Angeles personal injury lawyer Emery Ledger of Ledger & Associates, California, for instance, allows an injured person to collect compensation for economic and non-economic damages. So what exactly are economic and non-economic damages?

The best way to think about economic damages, says Los Angeles personal injury lawyer Emery Ledger, is to think of them as something that has a quantifiable dollar value. A medical bill from the hospital is an example of an economic damage. It is clearly related to the accident and the injuries that you suffered and it has an actual dollar amount that has been set by the hospital. In California, economic damages can include: medical bills; personal property damage; lost wages; lost earning capacity; and lost profits. Again, each of these has a quantifiable dollar amount attached to it. Los Angeles personal injury lawyer Emery Ledger stresses that it is extremely important that you keep accurate records of everything that happens after a car accident in order to help your personal injury lawyers get you the compensation that you deserve. For instance, time off of work is not limit to the initial period of time that you missed immediately after the accident. Time that you miss from work for doctor appointment, therapy appointments and other accident related purposes may be counted as well in economic damages. The better records you keep, the better your chance of receiving the compensation that you deserve.

The second category of damages in a California car accident case is non-economic damages. These damages are what people frequently think of as "pain and suffering" damages. Again, all states allow for some for of non-economic damages to be awarded, but they may differ as to exactly what you can collect for. In California, non-economic damages include: physical pain (past, present and future); physical impairment; mental suffering; loss of enjoyment of loss; disfigurement; emotional suffering; inconvenience; grief; anxiety; humiliation; and loss of consortium, says Los Angeles personal injury lawyer Emery Ledger of Ledger & Associates.. These are all the things that don't have a quantifiable dollar amount attached to them but that we suffer because of nonetheless. Think of it this way: if you have been injured in a car accident and those injuries caused you to need to see a doctor or go to a hospital, then you probably had some pain with the injuries right? However, a doctor is only going to send you a bill for his medical services…he is not going to send you a bill that states how much pain you were in and what the dollar amount of that pain is. Non-economic damages are the subjective part of a personal injury car accident case.