Special damages
Compensation for quantifiable financial losses tied to an injury, medical expenses, lost income, property damage, and ongoing care costs.
What it means in practice.
Special damages must be evidenced (receipts, payslips, invoices). They form the calculable foundation of any claim before non-economic damages are added.
Special damages are the losses you can put an exact figure on: medical and treatment bills, travel to appointments, medication and other out of pocket costs. In the US the same money is usually called economic damages. They sit beside general damages, the award for pain and suffering, which has no receipt.
Judgments list them line by line. Australian courts, for example, separate past out of pocket expenses, future expenses, past and future care, and past and future economic loss, and add interest on money already spent.
Because they are proved with bills and records, courts go through them item by item. Damages caps usually target the other side of the award: California’s MICRA cap, for example, limits only non-economic damages.
How it works, step by step.
| Decision | Special damages and related lines | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Hardy v Eclipse K9 (NSW 2024) | Past out of pocket expenses $16,787.43, including $11,787.43 paid by the CTP insurer and a $5,000 Medicare buffer; future out of pocket expenses $42,345. | Hardy v Eclipse K9 Security [2024] NSWDC 602 |
| Jaksa v Sweeny (Qld 2025) | $7,745.27 for past special damages and past and future care, beside $8,100 in general damages. | Jaksa v Sweeny & Anor [2025] QDC 2 |
| Bauer v Clay (Qld 2025) | Special damages $3,429.85, interest $156.21, future special damages $4,000 for physiotherapy and travel. | Bauer v Clay & Anor [2025] QSC 114 |
| Jorgensen v Superior Pak (Qld 2025) | Past special damages with interest $6,634.39; future special damages $15,000. | Jorgensen v Superior Pak [2025] QDC 204 |
| Rashidi v. Moser (Cal. 2013) | Future care of $125,000 stood beside non-economic damages that were subject to the MICRA cap. | Rashidi v. Moser (Cal. Ct. App. 2013) |
A worked example.
Itemised losses after a dog attack: Hardy v Eclipse K9 (NSW 2024)
- Expenses paid by the CTP insurer
- $11,787.43
- Medicare buffer
- $5,000
- Total past out of pocket expenses
- $16,787.43
- Occupational therapy (future)
- $3,300
- Total future out of pocket expenses
- $42,345
A motorcyclist attacked by a dog on a public road in June 2022 fractured his elbow. The judge went through the schedule of damages line by line; the total judgment, with general damages and other heads, was $460,988.99.