Understanding Damage Caps in Your NJ Personal Injury Claim

When you have been injured in a personal injury case, you tend to want monetary compensation for your injuries. In many cases, this means that you are seeking economic damages and non-economic damages to cover various aspects of your injury. Economic damages cover specific costs associated with your injury like medical bills, and non-economic damages refer to everything else, such as emotional distress. However, if you live in New Jersey, you must be aware of something known as a damage cap – or laws that limit the amount of non-economic damages that can be awarded in your case. Now we will help you understand these laws and what it means for your claim.

Why We Have Them 

You may seem damage caps as an unfair aspect of lawsuits for plaintiffs that need the damages. The argument to this is that high awards can put a drag on the overall economy. Consider a case where a plaintiff is trying to get $10 million in damages – what is the chance that they will receive that money? Damage caps work to reduce liability of service providers in lawsuits that could hurt the insurance company in a phenomenal way. To make up for millions in damages, an insurance company would increase the costs of insurance, which in turn could increase how much patients spend on services every year. Damage caps keep things functioning in a positive way.

Judges and attorneys do not want juries to know about damage caps in many cases because then they could use this as a starting point when they award damages. If you have questions about your own personal injury and the damage caps you may see in New Jersey, you should call us to speak with an experienced attorney today. We will help you understand these caps as well as what they mean for your specific claim.