Wrongful death damages compensate surviving family members for the losses they suffer when a loved one dies due to someone else's negligence or wrongful conduct. Understanding the types of damages available—and the limitations that may apply—helps families make informed decisions about pursuing claims and evaluating settlement offers.

Wrongful death damages fall into three main categories: economic damages, non-economic damages, and in some cases, punitive damages. Each serves a different purpose and requires different evidence to prove.

Economic Damages

Economic damages (also called pecuniary damages or special damages) compensate for quantifiable financial losses. These damages can be calculated with relative precision using financial records, economic projections, and expert testimony.

Lost Income and Earning Capacity

Lost income typically represents the largest component of wrongful death damages. This includes:

  • Wages and salary – The income the deceased would have earned from the date of death through expected retirement
  • Future raises and promotions – Projected career advancement and corresponding pay increases
  • Bonuses and commissions – Variable compensation the deceased historically received
  • Self-employment income – Business profits the deceased would have generated
  • Fringe benefits – Health insurance, retirement contributions, and other employment benefits

Calculating lost income requires projecting what the deceased would have earned over their remaining work life, then discounting that amount to present value. Economists typically testify about these calculations, considering factors like:

  • The deceased's education, training, and career trajectory
  • Industry earnings data and historical wage growth
  • Expected retirement age
  • Inflation and discount rates

Lost Financial Support

Closely related to lost income, lost financial support focuses on the portion of earnings the deceased would have contributed to dependents. Not all income translates to family support—some would have gone to the deceased's own expenses, taxes, and personal consumption.

Economists calculate the deceased's personal consumption rate—the percentage of income they would have spent on themselves—and subtract it to determine the support dependents actually lost.

Lost Household Services

Family members often provide substantial unpaid services: childcare, cooking, cleaning, home repairs, yard work, and transportation. The economic value of these services is recoverable even though the deceased received no salary for performing them.

Valuing lost household services typically involves:

  • Documenting the services the deceased performed
  • Calculating hours spent on each task
  • Applying market rates for equivalent services (daycare rates, housekeeper wages, handyman fees, etc.)
  • Projecting these values over the deceased's expected lifetime

Medical Expenses

Medical expenses incurred between the injury and death are recoverable. This includes:

  • Emergency medical treatment
  • Hospitalization and surgery
  • Medications and medical equipment
  • Rehabilitation and therapy
  • Home healthcare and nursing

These expenses are typically recovered through a survival action (on behalf of the deceased's estate) rather than the wrongful death claim itself, but both claims often proceed together.

Funeral and Burial Expenses

Funeral and burial costs are recoverable in virtually all wrongful death cases. This includes:

  • Funeral home services
  • Casket or cremation
  • Burial plot and headstone
  • Memorial service costs
  • Transportation and related expenses

Courts typically award reasonable funeral expenses, which may be capped in some states or evaluated against community standards.

Loss of Inheritance

Some states allow recovery for the loss of inheritance—the savings and assets the deceased would have accumulated and passed to heirs had they lived a full life. This requires projecting:

  • The deceased's expected lifetime earnings
  • Their historical savings rate
  • Investment returns on accumulated savings
  • The amount that would have remained at natural death

Non-Economic Damages

Non-economic damages (also called non-pecuniary damages or general damages) compensate for intangible losses that don't have a market value. These damages are inherently subjective and often generate significant dispute.

Loss of Companionship

Loss of companionship compensates surviving family members for the deprivation of the deceased's presence in their lives. This encompasses:

  • Love and affection
  • Emotional support
  • Society and companionship
  • Shared experiences and activities
  • Comfort and solace

The value of companionship varies enormously based on the relationship—a devoted spouse of 40 years has a different loss than an estranged adult child who rarely visited.

Loss of Consortium

Loss of consortium specifically addresses the losses a surviving spouse suffers related to the marital relationship:

  • Intimate relations
  • Marital partnership and cooperation
  • Shared life planning
  • Emotional and psychological support unique to marriage

Loss of Parental Guidance

When children lose a parent, they can recover for loss of parental guidance—the training, education, moral instruction, and nurturing the parent would have provided. This is particularly significant for young children who lose many years of parental involvement.

Loss of Care and Protection

Family members may recover for losing the security and protection the deceased provided. This recognizes that certain family members—often fathers, but potentially any family member—provide a sense of safety and protection that has independent value.

Mental Anguish and Emotional Distress

Some states allow family members to recover for their own grief, sorrow, and mental anguish. Others do not recognize these as compensable damages in wrongful death cases, instead limiting recovery to the more tangible losses of companionship and support.

Where allowed, mental anguish damages consider:

  • The closeness of the relationship
  • Whether family members witnessed the death or its aftermath
  • The need for psychological treatment
  • The duration and severity of grief symptoms

Loss of Enjoyment of Life

Some states recognize hedonic damages—compensation for the deceased's loss of life's pleasures and experiences. This controversial category attempts to value the enjoyment of living itself, separate from earnings or relationships.

Punitive Damages

Punitive damages (also called exemplary damages) aim to punish defendants for particularly egregious conduct and deter similar behavior. Unlike compensatory damages, which focus on the plaintiff's losses, punitive damages focus on the defendant's conduct.

Punitive damages are only available when the defendant's conduct goes beyond ordinary negligence to include:

  • Gross negligence or recklessness
  • Willful and wanton misconduct
  • Intentional wrongdoing
  • Fraud or malice

Examples that might support punitive damages include:

  • A drunk driver with multiple prior DUI convictions
  • A company that knew its product was deadly but hid the evidence
  • A nursing home that ignored repeated warnings about dangerous conditions
  • A trucking company that falsified driver logs to circumvent safety rules

Not all states allow punitive damages in wrongful death cases, and many that do impose caps or other limitations.

Damage Caps and Limitations

Many states limit wrongful death recovery through damage caps:

Non-Economic Damage Caps

The most common caps limit non-economic damages—pain and suffering, loss of companionship, mental anguish. These caps typically range from $250,000 to $750,000, though they vary widely.

Punitive Damage Caps

States commonly limit punitive damages to a multiple of compensatory damages (e.g., three times compensatory damages) or a fixed dollar amount.

Total Recovery Caps

Some states cap total wrongful death recovery regardless of category. Government liability claims often have specific caps—claims against government entities may be limited to $100,000 to $500,000 even when private defendants would face unlimited liability.

Medical Malpractice Caps

Many states impose special caps on medical malpractice wrongful death claims, often limiting non-economic damages more severely than in other wrongful death cases.

Factors Affecting Damage Awards

Beyond legal limitations, practical factors influence wrongful death damage recovery:

  • The deceased's age and health – Younger, healthier decedents typically generate higher economic damages due to longer projected lifespans
  • Earning history and potential – High earners and those with strong career trajectories produce larger lost income calculations
  • Number and age of dependents – More dependents, especially young children, typically increase damages
  • Relationship quality – Evidence of close, loving relationships supports higher non-economic damages
  • Defendant's conduct – Egregious behavior increases damage potential, while sympathetic defendants may reduce jury awards
  • Jurisdiction – Some venues consistently produce higher verdicts than others

Proving Damages

Different damages require different evidence:

Economic Damage Evidence

  • Tax returns and W-2s
  • Employment records and pay stubs
  • Expert economist testimony
  • Industry wage data
  • Medical bills and funeral receipts

Non-Economic Damage Evidence

  • Testimony from family members about the relationship
  • Photographs and videos showing family activities
  • Letters, cards, and communications
  • Testimony from friends, clergy, and others about family dynamics
  • Mental health treatment records

Conclusion

Wrongful death damages aim to compensate families for catastrophic losses that can never truly be made whole. Understanding what damages are available—and what limitations apply—helps families set realistic expectations and make informed decisions about their cases.

An experienced wrongful death attorney can evaluate your potential damages, identify applicable caps or limitations, and develop evidence to maximize your recovery. Because damages depend heavily on state law and case-specific facts, professional evaluation is essential.