First Principles of Business Law

3. Compensatory damages for personal injury

3.1.a.1 Damages for pecuniary harm

A plaintiff who has suffered personal injury can claim damages for harm of a financial or monetary nature. This is called pecuniary harm (or loss) from the Latin word 'pecunia' meaning money. There are various types (or heads) of pecuniary harm, listed below. Click on each of them for more information.

• Loss of the plaintiff's earning capacity.
• Medical and associated costs.
• The loss of an injured spouse's services as a homemaker.
• The expense of administering a lump-sum award of damages.
• The cost of modifications to a house to accommodate a wheelchair.
• The cost of a live-in carer's accommodation.

Damages to compensate for loss of earning capacity and medical expenses are dealt with in more detail on the next pages.