Some losses never show up on an invoice: pain, a permanent scar, the activities an injury took away. New York law lets a jury put a dollar figure on them anyway. These are general damages. They sit alongside the countable losses, like hospital charges and lost pay.
If you were hurt in a crash or a fall in New York, this is the part of the case that gets fought hardest. Adding up bills is simple, but valuing suffering is not. Here is how general damages work under current New York law, in plain terms.
What counts as general damages?
General damages, often called non-economic damages, cover the human losses. Common examples include physical pain and suffering, permanent scarring or disfigurement, loss of a limb or a bodily function, emotional distress, conditions like post-traumatic stress, loss of enjoyment of life, and a spouse's loss of companionship, known as loss of consortium.
The test is straightforward. No invoice, no pay stub? It belongs on the general damages side. If a bill or paycheck proves it, it is a special damage, sometimes called an economic damage. Most serious cases include both. You can read more about how the two fit together in our explainer on how damages are calculated in personal injury cases.
How do general damages differ from special damages?
Special damages are the countable losses. Medical bills, future surgery costs, lost wages, reduced earning capacity, and property damage all have numbers attached. A jury adds them up from records and expert testimony.
General damages work differently. A jury decides what the pain and the lost function are worth. The evidence is your life before the injury compared with your life after it. That picture comes from your treating physicians' findings, your testimony, and the people who know you. In my experience, the medical record carries the most weight. A consistent record, built visit by visit, is what makes a pain and suffering award credible.
Can I recover general damages after a car accident?
A New York car accident case adds an extra hurdle. No-fault insurance pays your medical bills and a portion of lost wages up to $50,000, regardless of fault. But no-fault pays nothing for pain and suffering.
To recover general damages from the at-fault driver, your injury must meet the serious injury threshold in Insurance Law § 5102(d). The current categories are: death, dismemberment, significant disfigurement, fracture, loss of a fetus, permanent loss of use of a body organ, member, function or system, permanent consequential limitation of use of a body organ or member, and significant limitation of use of a body function or system.
New York rewrote parts of this law in its 2026 reforms. Older articles still describe a 90/180-day category of serious injury. That category was repealed for newly filed cases, so do not not rely on it when sizing up your own situation.
Fault matters too. Under CPLR § 1411, in motor vehicle cases, you are barred from recovery if your share of fault is greater than the combined fault of the parties you sue. Below that line, your award is reduced in proportion to your fault, not eliminated. And under Insurance Law § 5104, certain at-fault injured drivers face a $100,000 cap on non-economic damages. That cap applies, for example, to a driver who was required to insure the vehicle and did not, or who was convicted of impaired driving connected to the crash.
How are general damages calculated?
New York has no formula. No fixed multiplier, no statutory chart for pain. A jury weighs the nature of the injury, its permanence, the treatment you went through, and how your daily life changed.
Expert testimony often fills the gap. A treating surgeon can explain what a fused spine means for the rest of your working life. A psychiatrist can describe what post-traumatic stress does to sleep, work, and family. Courts can review verdicts for reasonableness, so awards are also measured against what juries have done in comparable cases.
Documentation matters from day one. Tell your doctors about every symptom, at every visit. Your treatment record becomes the proof of your suffering. If you stop treating, a jury may assume the pain stopped too, whether or not that is true.
What deadlines apply?
Most New York personal injury lawsuits must be started within three years of the injury under CPLR § 214. Wrongful death claims generally carry a two-year deadline. Claims against a city, county, or public authority usually require a notice of claim within 90 days.
In a car accident case, the no-fault application is generally due within 30 days of the crash. Miss it, and the benefits that keep your treatment going can be denied. We walk through those early clocks in our guide to the deadlines, calls, and offers that follow a New York crash.
How Schwartzapfel Holbrook approaches general damages
General damages are won with proof, not adjectives. We build that proof two ways. We review the medical record as it develops through the treating physicians' independent findings. We also document how the injury changed the client's work, home, and daily routine. When the record supports a serious injury under § 5102(d), we prepare the case to present that injury to a jury.
Schwartzapfel Holbrook accepts a limited number of serious injury cases across New York City, Nassau County, and Suffolk County. Every case we take is prepared for trial, because proving the human losses requires being ready to try them.
