General vs. Special Damages in Personal Injury

James Wong — Founder & Pharmacist, LienScripts | April 1, 2024 | 7 min read

Personal injury damages fall into two categories: special damages (economic losses like medical bills and pharmacy costs) and general damages (non-economic losses like pain and suffering). Understanding the distinction shapes how attorneys structure demands and how pharmacy costs are framed.

This post is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice.

Two Categories That Determine Case Value

When a personal injury attorney calculates what a case is worth, they work within two established categories of damages: special damages and general damages. These categories are not just accounting distinctions — they govern how evidence is presented, how demands are written, and how settlement negotiations unfold.

Pharmacy costs fall squarely in the special damages column. Understanding why that matters — and how to present pharmacy evidence as compelling special damages — is one of the most practical skills in pharmacy-heavy PI cases.

[!KEY] Special damages (economic losses) must be documented to be recovered — every pharmacy lien prescription is a verifiable special damage, and the LSR is the exhibit that converts the lien balance into an undisputable line item in the demand.

What Are Special Damages?

Special damages — also called economic damages — are the calculable, out-of-pocket losses the plaintiff suffered as a direct result of the injury. They are called "special" because they must be specifically pled and proven with documentation. They are not presumed.

Examples of special damages in a PI case:

• Medical bills: emergency room, hospitalization, specialist visits, physical therapy, chiropractic
• Pharmacy costs: all prescriptions filled to treat injury-related conditions
• Lost wages: income lost because the plaintiff was unable to work
• Future medical expenses: ongoing care expected to be needed after settlement
• Household services: cost of services the plaintiff can no longer perform themselves

Pharmacy costs are special damages. Every prescription filled under a pharmacy lien from LienScripts represents a quantifiable economic loss — the cost of medication required to treat the plaintiff's injuries. These costs must be documented and included in the demand's special damages section.

Pharmacy Costs as Special Damages

Properly documenting pharmacy costs as special damages requires more than a pharmacy receipt. A persuasive special damages showing for medication costs includes:

The LSR (Lien Summary Report): An itemized record of every prescription fill, the dispensing date, the medication, the prescribing physician, and the lien balance. This is the primary financial exhibit. See our post on what an LSR is and how to use it.

The MERIT Report: A clinical narrative explaining why each medication was prescribed and how it relates to the injury. This document connects pharmacy costs to causation — a critical step because adjusters routinely challenge whether specific medications were injury-related. See our post on what a MERIT report is.

Prescriber documentation: Records from treating physicians linking the prescriptions to the injury diagnoses. ICD-10 codes on prescription records connect each medication to a specific injury category.

Together, these documents present pharmacy costs as verified, injury-caused economic losses — the same standard applied to hospital bills and physician fees.

What Are General Damages?

General damages — also called non-economic damages — are losses that cannot be precisely quantified but are recognized as real and compensable. Unlike special damages, general damages do not require specific documentation to be pleaded; they are implied from the nature of the injury.

Examples of general damages:

• Pain and suffering: physical pain experienced during and after the injury
• Emotional distress: anxiety, depression, PTSD, and other psychological effects
• Loss of enjoyment of life: inability to participate in activities the plaintiff valued
• Loss of consortium: harm to the plaintiff's relationships with their spouse or family
• Disfigurement: permanent scarring or physical changes
• Future pain and suffering: ongoing non-economic harm expected to continue

General damages are typically the largest component of a PI case value, particularly for severe or permanent injuries. They are not directly documented the same way as special damages — instead, they are supported by medical testimony, expert opinion, and the overall narrative of how the injury affected the plaintiff's life.

Why the Distinction Matters to Attorneys

Multiplier arguments. A common valuation method multiplies special damages by a factor (often 1.5x to 5x depending on injury severity) to arrive at a general damages figure. A higher special damages number supports a higher general damages demand. Thorough pharmacy documentation directly boosts the special damages total.

Negotiation leverage. An adjuster reviewing a demand with well-documented pharmacy records — LSR, MERIT report, prescriber records — cannot argue that the medication costs are speculative. Properly documented pharmacy special damages are difficult to dispute without clinical evidence to the contrary.

Settlement waterfall structure. When proceeds are allocated among liens, taxes, and categories of recovery, a clear breakdown between special and general damages helps ensure the correct proportion flows to each lienholder and to the client. See our post on the pharmacy lien settlement waterfall.

Statutory liens tied to special damages. Medi-Cal's recovery right, under the Ahlborn formula, is limited to the portion of the settlement allocated to past medical expenses — a subcategory of special damages. A well-structured demand that carefully allocates proceeds among damages categories can limit Medi-Cal's lien recovery. See our guide on the Ahlborn formula for Medi-Cal lien reduction.

[!KEY] Medi-Cal's lien is capped at the medical expenses allocation in the settlement — structuring the demand to allocate a larger share to pain and suffering, lost wages, and future care limits Medi-Cal's reach, and a well-documented pharmacy lien that captures the full medical cost history provides the foundation for a credible, defensible medical damages allocation.

[!TIP] For Attorneys: General damages are typically calculated as a multiplier of special damages — every well-documented pharmacy dollar raises the base that the pain-and-suffering multiplier is applied to, directly increasing the overall settlement demand.

Documenting Special Damages: The Pharmacy Record's Role

A demand letter that lists pharmacy costs as a line item — without supporting documentation — will be challenged. An adjuster has no obligation to accept an unsupported figure.

A demand letter that attaches the LSR as Exhibit A and the MERIT report as Exhibit B — with a narrative in the body of the demand connecting each medication to the injury — tells a different story. The adjuster who wants to dispute that figure now has to rebut a complete clinical and financial record.

[!KEY] The adjuster who receives an LSR and MERIT report as demand exhibits cannot simply discount the pharmacy costs — any reduction argument requires a clinical counter-narrative, which means hiring an IME physician or peer reviewer whose cost and uncertainty often exceeds the disputed lien reduction amount.

For templates and strategies on incorporating pharmacy records into demand letters, see our posts on pharmacy costs in demand letters and demand package pharmacy records.

Key Takeaway

Special damages are the quantifiable, documented economic losses in a PI case — including all pharmacy costs. General damages are the non-economic losses like pain and suffering. Pharmacy records, properly organized through a lien administrator like LienScripts, turn medication costs into well-supported special damages that are difficult for adjusters to discount and that directly support a higher overall case value.