What are Non-Economic Damages?
Different from economic damages, which pay you back for medical bills, lost wages, and other losses that come with a bill or receipt, non-economic damages compensate you for harm that has no dollar amount attached, like the physical pain you go through while you heal, the emotional distress that can follow a serious injury, scarring, and the activities you can no longer do the way you could before you were hurt.
Since there is no bill to show what pain or lost activities have cost you, you need evidence of how the injury changed your life to recover non-economic damages, whether you are negotiating with an insurance adjuster or presenting your case to a jury. Other than a few specific situations, like a case against a city or state agency, Texas does not cap the amount of non-economic damages you can recover.
If you were hurt in an accident in Austin, call Loewy Law Firm at (512) 280-0800 for a free consultation, and our personal injury attorneys can talk to you about the evidence that may support non-economic damages in your case.
Losses That Count as Non-Economic Damages in Texas
Section 41.001 of the Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code names nine specific types of loss that count as non-economic damages and ends with a catch-all for any other harm that has no dollar amount.
| Type of loss | What it covers |
| Physical pain and suffering | The physical pain from the injury and from the treatment and recovery that follow it, which is the category behind the phrase “pain and suffering.” |
| Mental or emotional pain or anguish | Emotional harm that comes from the injury, like depression, grief, fear, or trouble sleeping. |
| Loss of consortium | A case your spouse, or in some situations your child, can bring for the harm a serious injury does to their relationship with you. |
| Disfigurement | Changes to how your body looks, like scars, burns, or an amputation. |
| Physical impairment | Limits on what your body can do after the injury, like lifting, walking, or climbing stairs, which Texas treats as a separate loss from the pain itself. |
| Loss of companionship and society | The loss of love, comfort, and companionship a family member suffers when a loved one dies. |
| Inconvenience | The disruption an injury brings to your daily life, like arranging your days around doctor appointments and physical therapy. |
| Loss of enjoyment of life | The hobbies and activities you can no longer take part in or enjoy the way you did before you were hurt. |
| Injury to reputation | Harm to how other people see you, which usually arises in defamation cases and not in accident cases. |
| All other nonfinancial losses | Any other harm from the injury that has no dollar amount, other than punitive damages. |
You won’t be paid a separate amount for every type on the list, since several of them can describe the same harm. If your case ends up in front of a jury, the questions about your own injuries put the types together into three groups, and for each group the jury writes in one amount for what you’ve gone through so far and another for what you will likely go through in the future:
- Physical pain and mental anguish
- Physical impairment, which includes loss of enjoyment of life
- Disfigurement
Can Family Members Recover Non-Economic Damages?
Close family members can recover non-economic damages of their own when a loved one is seriously hurt or killed in Texas, though a parent, for example, can recover in a death case and not in an injury case.
| Family member | If the victim survives the injury | If the victim dies |
| Spouse | Yes, for loss of consortium | Yes, for mental anguish and loss of companionship and society |
| Child of the victim | Yes, for loss of consortium, if the parent’s injury is serious, permanent, and disabling | Yes, for mental anguish and loss of companionship and society |
| Parent of the victim | No | Yes, for mental anguish and loss of companionship and society |
| Sibling or stepparent | No | No |
Section 71.004 of the Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code limits a wrongful death case to the victim’s spouse, children, and parents, which is why a brother or sister can’t recover even when they were close to the victim. The representative of your loved one’s estate can also bring a survival case to recover for the pain and mental anguish your loved one went through before they died.
If you watched a close family member get seriously hurt, you may have a mental anguish case of your own as a bystander, as long as you were near the scene and saw or heard the accident as it happened, which are two of the factors the Texas Supreme Court set out in Freeman v. City of Pasadena (1988).
Limits on Non-Economic Damages in Cases Against the Government
When a government employee causes your injury, like a city worker driving a city truck or a CapMetro bus driver, the Texas Tort Claims Act limits how much you can recover from the government, and the limit covers your economic and non-economic damages together.
| Government responsible for the injury | Cap per injured victim | Cap per accident, all victims combined |
| The State of Texas | $250,000 | $500,000 |
| A city, like the City of Austin | $250,000 | $500,000 |
| Other local government units, including transit authorities like CapMetro | $100,000 | $300,000 |
A private driver who shares the blame for the crash, like a driver who hit the CapMetro bus you were riding, isn’t protected by the Tort Claims Act, so your case against that driver has no cap on non-economic damages.
Calculating Non-Economic Damages
Texas law doesn’t give a formula for turning pain or lost enjoyment of life into a dollar amount, so you and your attorney negotiate the amount with the insurance company, or a jury sets it if your case goes to trial.
Settlement Offers From an Insurance Company
Insurance adjusters may start from a shorthand method when they value pain and suffering, like multiplying your medical bills, lost wages, and other economic damages by a number that typically falls between 1.5 and 5, or assigning a daily rate for each day you spent recovering. Both methods are negotiating tools insurance companies use, and you and your attorney can push back on the adjuster’s number with evidence of how the injury changed your life.
Jury Awards After the 2023 Texas Supreme Court Decision
In a 2023 wrongful death case, the Texas Supreme Court reversed a non-economic damages award and said a jury can’t simply pick a number, since the amount needs a rational connection to evidence of how severe the harm was and how long it lasted. The lead opinion also rejected arguments that compared the value of a life to expensive objects like a fighter jet or a famous painting, and since that decision, appeals judges in Texas have reduced awards they found too high for the evidence presented at trial.
Reductions for Your Share of Fault
If you share part of the blame for the accident, The proportionate responsibility statute in Texas can reduce your damages, non-economic damages included, by your percentage of fault, so being 20% at fault cuts a $100,000 award to $80,000. If you are more than 50% at fault, you can’t recover damages at all.
Pain From a Condition You Had Before the Accident
If you had back problems, arthritis, or an old injury before the accident, you can still recover non-economic damages for the added pain and limits the accident caused. Texas jury instructions tell jurors not to award money for a condition you already had, except to the extent the accident made it worse, so your medical records from before the accident can help show the difference between how you were doing then and how you are doing now.
Evidence That Supports Non-Economic Damages
You and your attorney can support each type of non-economic harm with its own kind of evidence:
| Type of harm | Examples of evidence |
| Physical pain | Medical records that track your pain and treatment over time, your doctor’s testimony about pain you can expect in the future, and a journal you keep during recovery |
| Physical impairment | Notes from your doctors or physical therapists about your work and activity restrictions, and testimony from people who see you every day about what you can no longer do |
| Disfigurement | Photos of your injuries and scars taken at different points in your recovery |
| Mental anguish | Records from a doctor or counselor who treated you for the emotional effects of the injury, and testimony from family members about changes they noticed in you |
Mental anguish damages in Texas need evidence of a high degree of mental pain and distress, which the Texas Supreme Court has described as more than worry, anxiety, vexation, embarrassment, or anger. To meet that standard, you need evidence of how severe your distress was, how long it lasted, and how it disrupted your daily routine.
Additional Questions about Non-Economic Damages
Are Non-Economic Damages Taxable?
Section 104(a)(2) of the Internal Revenue Code excludes damages you receive because of a personal physical injury or physical sickness from your taxable income, and that includes the money you recover for pain and emotional distress that come from the injury. Emotional distress damages with no physical injury behind them are generally taxable, and so are punitive damages, which is why a tax professional can help you see how the rules apply to your settlement.
Can You Get Non-Economic Damages Without a Physical Injury?
In a Texas negligence case, you generally need a physical injury to recover mental anguish damages. One exception is a bystander who was near the scene and saw a close family member get hurt, since the Texas Supreme Court recognized a bystander’s right to recover mental anguish damages in Freeman v. City of Pasadena (1988).
Do You Need a Doctor or Counselor to Prove Mental Anguish?
No. In Parkway Co. v. Woodruff (1995), the Texas Supreme Court said evidence of the nature, duration, and severity of mental anguish can come from your own testimony, from other witnesses, or from experts. Records from a doctor or counselor can add support to your case, but you may still be able to recover mental anguish damages without them.
Recovering Non-Economic Damages in Texas
The pain, limits, and changes you live with after an accident belong in your case as much as your medical bills do, and much of the evidence for them comes from you and the people around you. An attorney can help gather the records and testimony that show what the injury changed for you, whether your case settles or goes to trial.
Call Loewy Law Firm at (512) 280-0800 for a free consultation if you have questions about the non-economic damages in your case.
References
- Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 41.001 (definitions of economic and non-economic damages)
- State Bar of Texas, Texas Pattern Jury Charges: General Negligence, Intentional Personal Torts & Workers’ Compensation, PJC 28.3 (personal injury damages question) and the exclusionary instruction for a preexisting condition that is aggravated
- Golden Eagle Archery, Inc. v. Jackson, 116 S.W.3d 757 (Tex. 2003) (loss of enjoyment of life within physical impairment)
- Whittlesey v. Miller, 572 S.W.2d 665 (Tex. 1978) (spouse’s loss of consortium)
- Reagan v. Vaughn, 804 S.W.2d 463 (Tex. 1990) (child’s loss of consortium)
- Roberts v. Williamson, 111 S.W.3d 113 (Tex. 2003) (no parental consortium for a surviving child)
- Ford Motor Co. v. Miles, 967 S.W.2d 377 (Tex. 1998) (no sibling or stepparent consortium)
- Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 71.004 (wrongful death beneficiaries)
- Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 71.021 (survival action)
- Freeman v. City of Pasadena, 744 S.W.2d 923 (Tex. 1988) (bystander mental anguish)
- Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 101.023 (Texas Tort Claims Act limits)
- VIA Metropolitan Transit v. Meck (Tex. App.–San Antonio 2018) (transit authority as a unit of local government under the Tort Claims Act)
- FindLaw, “What Is a Pain and Suffering Multiplier?” (multiplier method)
- Gregory v. Chohan, 670 S.W.3d 546 (Tex. 2023) (evidence required for non-economic damages awards)
- Exxon Mobil Corp. v. Brown, 729 S.W.3d 625 (Tex. App.–Houston [14th Dist.] 2026) (appellate reduction of a non-economic damages award)
- Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code §§ 33.001, 33.012 (proportionate responsibility)
- Parkway Co. v. Woodruff, 901 S.W.2d 434 (Tex. 1995) (mental anguish evidence standard)
- 26 U.S.C. § 104(a)(2) (tax treatment of personal physical injury damages)
- Boyles v. Kerr, 855 S.W.2d 593 (Tex. 1993) (no general duty to avoid negligently causing emotional distress)
The content on this website is for general informational purposes and should not be considered legal advice. Laws change, and case outcomes depend on specific facts. Viewing this material does not establish an attorney-client relationship. For legal guidance on your specific situation, consult a qualified attorney.