Compensatory Damages
What does "Compensatory Damages" mean in law?
Compensatory damages are monetary awards intended to make the injured party whole by restoring them to the position they would have occupied had the wrong not occurred. They encompass both general damages (those flowing naturally from the breach or tort, such as pain and suffering) and special damages (those arising from the particular circumstances of the case, such as lost wages or medical expenses). The plaintiff bears the burden of proving compensatory damages with reasonable certainty, and speculative or conjectural losses are not recoverable. In Hawkins v. McGee, the court distinguished between compensatory measures by awarding the difference between the value of the hand as promised and the value of the hand as it was after the failed surgery.
Definition
Compensatory damages are monetary awards intended to make the injured party whole by restoring them to the position they would have occupied had the wrong not occurred. They encompass both general damages (those flowing naturally from the breach or tort, such as pain and suffering) and special damages (those arising from the particular circumstances of the case, such as lost wages or medical expenses). The plaintiff bears the burden of proving compensatory damages with reasonable certainty, and speculative or conjectural losses are not recoverable. In Hawkins v. McGee, the court distinguished between compensatory measures by awarding the difference between the value of the hand as promised and the value of the hand as it was after the failed surgery.
Example
After a contractor used defective materials to build a deck that collapsed, the homeowner recovered compensatory damages covering the cost of rebuilding the deck and repairing damage to the home's foundation.