What are economic and non-economic damages?
Economic damages are quantifiable financial losses like medical bills and lost wages, while non-economic damages compensate for pain, suffering, and emotional trauma that lack a specific dollar amount.
In Texas injury law, damages in a dog bite claim fall into two categories that courts treat very differently. Economic damages are losses you can add up with receipts and invoices. These include emergency room visits, surgical repair, reconstructive procedures, physical therapy, infection treatment, scar revision, and any wages you lost while recovering. If a bite required hospitalization or ongoing dermatological care, those bills are economic damages. The same applies to property damage, like torn clothing.
Non-economic damages cover harm that has no price tag. Texas law recognizes compensation for physical pain, mental anguish, disfigurement, loss of enjoyment of life, and emotional trauma from the incident. A severe bite to the face may cause permanent scarring, which qualifies as non-economic damage even if no surgery was needed. Anxiety, sleep loss, or fear of dogs afterward also fall here.
The distinction matters because Texas caps non-economic damages in some personal injury cases, though dog bite liability claims often operate under different rules depending on the circumstances and whether the dog owner is liable. Economic damages have no statutory cap and must be proved with documentation. Non-economic damages require testimony and evidence of your actual suffering. Dog bite attorneys in Texas assess both categories to build a complete claim.