Torts II

Special damages are compensatory damages awarded over economic losses, such as:

Past and future medical expenses
Past and future lost wages
Loss or impairment of earning capacity
- This means one cannot do the job that he wants to anymore, even if his new job does not pay less.

Future costs must consider:

An award for future damages must be awarded as a definite lump sum amount set at the time of the judgment.

There are three ways of reducing to present value:

Inflation-discount method
- Accounts for interest and inflation separately.
Real interest method
- Sets a flat interest rate approximating the practical rate.
- Based on the principal that overpaying the plaintiff is better than underpaying him.
Total offset method
- Says that interest and inflation will cancel each other out and just pays the actual awarded amount.