If you’ve read about personal injury cases in Canada, you’ve seen the terms pecuniary and non-pecuniary damages. While they may sound technical, the ideas behind them are simple. One refers to compensatory damages that you can calculate with invoices, pay stubs, or receipts. The other refers to harm you feel, the things that influence your life but don’t come with a printed bill.
Understanding the difference matters. These two types of damages often comprise the backbone of a personal injury settlement, and knowing what qualifies and how courts assess them can help you when determining whether your personal injury case is worth pursuing.
What Are Pecuniary Damages?
Pecuniary damages are compensatory damages for the specific financial losses you’ve suffered, or are reasonably expected to suffer, because of your serious injury. They’re the measurable, dollar-based impacts of an accident: out-of-pocket expenses, economic setbacks, and anything that can be tied back to documented income or costs.
Pecuniary Damages Meaning
The phrase pecuniary damages comes from the Latin pecunia, meaning money. In Canadian legal terms, it refers to compensatory damages for quantifiable economic loss. These damages are meant to restore the injured person financially to the position they would have been in had the injury never occurred. You aren’t being rewarded here; you’re being reimbursed for actual financial harm caused by someone else’s negligence.
Canadian courts consider both past and future pecuniary losses. The logic is practical: if your injury stops you from working, requires ongoing care, or forces you to pay for things you otherwise would never have needed, the law recognizes those losses and makes compensation available to cover these compensatory damages.
Pecuniary damages can include, but are not limited to:
- Lost wages and future loss of earning capacity.
- Medical costs and rehabilitation expenses.
- Attendant care or personal support worker costs.
- Housekeeping and home maintenance assistance.
- Prescription medication costs.
- Travel expenses to medical appointments.
- Rehabilitation expenses and hospital bills.
- Costs for mobility aids (wheelchairs, crutches, walkers).
- Physiotherapy, chiropractic, therapy, and counselling fees.
- Caregiver costs for family members who must stop working to assist you.
- Educational or retraining costs if you can no longer return to your previous field.
- Home renovations are required for accessibility.
- Childcare costs if you are unable to care for your children while recovering.
- Future care costs.
- Financial losses tied to missed employment opportunities or career delays.
Every one of these losses has one common feature: you can validate them with documentation.
At the core, pecuniary damages hinge on proof. If you’re submitting receipts for medication, records showing missed work, or invoices for physiotherapy, those documents matter. Courts rely on them heavily. The more apparent your supporting evidence for these compensatory damages, the easier it becomes to build a strong compensation case.
In personal injury law, this isn’t the emotional or subjective part. It’s math. You can add these losses up.
There’s often confusion between lost wages and loss of earning capacity, so it’s worth explaining the difference explicitly:
- Lost wages = income you actually missed from the date of the accident to the date of settlement or judgment.
- Loss of earning capacity = what you may continue to lose in the future because your injury limits your ability to work, compete for jobs, or earn at your pre-accident level.
Courts look at age, occupation, educational background, experience, industry outlook, and your physical ability to perform your job when estimating future income loss. The result is often a projection, but one grounded in logic and evidence.
Pecuniary Damages Examples
Here are some real-world examples of pecuniary losses we see in Canadian claims:
Example 1 – Missed Pay From Work
A construction worker suffers a knee injury in a car accident. He misses 14 months of work while undergoing surgery and physical therapy. His employer records, EI statements, and past tax filings clearly show his annual income. Those missed wages qualify as pecuniary compensatory damages.
Example 2 – Out-of-Pocket Medical Expenses
A mother suffering chronic pain after a slip and fall pays for physiotherapy twice a week, medications, and Uber rides to appointments because she can no longer drive comfortably. She has invoices from medical expenses, medical recommendations, proof of cost, and a physician’s report. These compensatory damages are all pecuniary.
Example 3 – Future Job Retraining
After a spinal injury, a registered dental hygienist can’t return to long shifts requiring constant standing. She enrolls in a healthcare administration program to transition into a non-physical role. Program tuition + future earning impact are both pecuniary compensatory damages.
Example 4 – Accessibility Renovations
A retired teacher needs a stairlift installed at home after fractures prevent safe use of stairs. The installation invoice supports the loss, which is treated as future pecuniary damage.
What Are Non-Pecuniary Damages?
Unlike pecuniary damages, non-pecuniary damages compensate you for non-economic harm—the human cost of injury. This refers to the pain, loss of enjoyment, emotional suffering, and lifestyle impact you experience because of your accident.
There is no invoice for trauma, chronic pain, lost independence, depression, lifestyle limitations, or losing the ability to enjoy the life you built. But that doesn’t make the harm less real.
Non-pecuniary damages are Canada’s legal mechanism for compensating those non-economic losses.
Non-Pecuniary Damages Examples
Common examples include compensation for:
- Chronic pain or long-term physical discomfort.
- Pain and suffering, such as PTSD, anxiety, or depression, that were triggered by the accident.
- Loss of ability to enjoy hobbies, sports, or social life.
- Loss of independence or dignity.
- Emotional distress.
- Loss of enjoyment of life.
- Disfigurement or scarring.
- Loss of lifestyle.
- Impact on personal and family relationships.
Example 1 – Ongoing Pain
A delivery driver hits a cyclist, who suffers a shoulder injury. Surgery fixes the immediate damage, but daily pain continues for 3+ years. He can no longer swim, play catch with his kids, or exercise comfortably. There is no bill, but a dramatic change to the quality of life. Non-pecuniary compensatory damages.
Example 2 – Loss of a Hobby
A teenager injures his ankle in a dog attack. He played competitive basketball pre-accident. He now watches games from the sidelines, physically healed but psychologically impacted, missing a key part of his identity, resulting in emotional distress. This qualifies for non-pecuniary compensatory damages.
Example 3 – Psychological Trauma
A woman was rear-ended, leading to PTSD triggered by driving. She avoids the highway, loses job opportunities requiring travel, and experiences panic attacks as a passenger. Therapy reports support her claim. These are non-pecuniary losses.
Example 4 – Disfigurement
A young man suffers permanent facial scarring due to a defective medical procedure. The physical injury was repaired, but emotional and social impacts remain. Scarring and its psychological consequences qualify as non-pecuniary compensatory damages.
What are Key Differences Between Pecuniary and Non-Pecuniary Damages?
Can the damages be calculated with documents? Pecuniary damages can be, but non-pecuniary damages cannot be.
Pecuniary damages cover economic loss (work-related, medical expenses and medical bills, etc.), while non-pecuniary damages cover pain and suffering, emotional distress and lifestyle impact involved with serious injuries.
Example evidence: Pecuniary damages would include receipts, pay stubs, and invoices, while non-pecuniary damages would include medical assessments & testimony on impact.
Caps or legal limits: Pecuniary damages do not have a formal nationwide cap, while non-pecuniary damages do have a Supreme Court-established cap.
Both pecuniary and non-pecuniary damages include future compensatory damages.
The purpose of pecuniary damages is to financially compensate, while non-pecuniary damages is to compensate for the “human cost” and emotional distress of the personal injury sustained.
How Courts Determine Damages in Canada
Courts assess pecuniary and non-pecuniary damages separately based on evidence, fairness, and precedent.
How are Pecuniary Damages Calculated?
Courts consider documented past financial losses, along with reasonable estimates of future losses, supported by medical opinions, future care costs, future earnings and future wages, actuarial data, and income history for the injured party.
How are Non-Pecuniary Damages Calculated?
Courts will consider how significantly the injury affects your life, the severity and duration of pain, emotional suffering and the effect on relationships, emotional distress caused, freedom, lifestyle, enjoyment, independence, and dignity. The court will asses the claimant’s mental capabilities when calculating damages.
Canada relies on precedent heavily for both types of damages. That means earlier court rulings guide what courts consider fair compensation in future cases.
Tips for Maximizing Your Compensation
Damages aren’t awarded just because you were hurt. They’re awarded because you can demonstrate how the injury disrupted your life or finances.
Document Everything
Accident victims should keep receipts, prescriptions, invoices, appointment records, travel logs, insurance statements, and employment paperwork. Even things that seem small can add up.
Follow Recommended Treatment
Ignoring medical advice for injuries sustained in the accident can be used against you. Completing treatment shows you are taking recovery seriously, and physician reports often reflect that.
Track Your Income Loss Properly
Keep a record of missed work, modified duties, reduced hours, or rejected job offers tied to your limitations. Lost wages aren’t just what you missed—they can also include what you can no longer do.
Record Lifestyle Changes
Keep a log or journal about activity limitations, emotional struggles, pain flare-ups, sleep disruptions, relationship impact, and changes in family roles.
Seek Legal Guidance Early
The longer you wait, the easier it is for evidence to scatter, witnesses to become unreachable, or timelines to blur.
A lawyer can assess all categories of damages you may be entitled to and push back when insurers minimize your loss.
Contact Our Personal Injury Lawyer for Assistance
If your an accident victim whose injury was caused by someone else, whether on the road, at a business, at home, or due to medical negligence, you have the right to understand what your claim is actually worth, which underscores the importance of retaining an experienced personal injury lawyer.
The legal team at Bergel Magence LLP has spent decades helping Canadians get fair compensation for injuries that disrupt lives and livelihoods. We work on a contingency basis, meaning we charge no legal fees unless we win.
We have helped thousands of seriously injured individuals obtain the compensation they deserve by representing them in their personal injury cases. We understand the pain and suffering caused by a serious injury and will fight on your behalf.
If you want clarity, direction, and someone to handle the heavy lifting for you, we’re here to help you with your personal injury claim. The wrongdoing committed by the guilty party must be avenged, which is why we have helped thousands of individuals who have sustained serious injuries get the compensation and justice they deserve.
We will help you with your personal injury claim and potential personal injury lawsuit, giving you unparalleled peace of mind. We have represented thousands of clients, who have been awarded hundreds of millions in monetary compensation.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are there limits on non-pecuniary damages in Canada?
Yes. Canada has a nationwide cap on non-pecuniary damages for pain and suffering, first set by the Supreme Court of Canada in 1978 and subsequently updated to reflect inflation. This cap applies only to compensation for non-economic harm, often referred to in plain language as the money awarded for loss of enjoyment of life, physical pain, and emotional suffering.
However, this limit does not apply to other types of compensation, such as pecuniary damages, nor to awards for punitive damages, nominal damages, or nominal monetary amounts. For example:
- Punitive damages are not about reimbursing you, but rather are money awarded by courts to punish a negligent act or negligent conduct when someone’s behaviour was especially reckless, malicious, or showed a shocking disregard for safety following a negligent act or negligent act causing injury.
- Nominal damages are typically small, symbolic sums, sometimes just a nominal monetary award or a minimal money amount, granted when a right was violated. Still, there was no significant financial or measurable loss attached to the negligent action.
- Nominal damages awarded might only be a token monetary term or token financial figure, but punitive damages can be much larger, depending on the severity of the negligent behaviour.
- Canada does not place a cap on punitive damages, meaning the money awarded can exceed hundreds of thousands, or more, where justified by serious misconduct.
- Both punitive and nominal damages can be awarded together with non-pecuniary damages, depending on the negligent act, negligent actions, negligent misconduct or negligent acts leading to the case.
So yes, there are limits for pain and suffering awards, but not for all monetary awards in Canadian monetary law.
How do Canadian courts calculate lost wages?
When a negligent act causes an injury, lost wages are treated as pecuniary damages, and courts aim to replace the actual money the injured person would have earned. The process is evidence-driven and relies on clear financial and monetary terms to determine the final money awarded or monetary compensation awarded to the injured claimant.
Courts assess:
- Income actually lost after the accident (using pay stubs, T4s, NOAs, employment letters, EI records, bank deposits).
- Your past earnings, salary history, salaried earnings, or salaried monetary amounts.
- Medical reports explaining the duration you could not work due to the negligent injury-causing act.
- Whether you could return to the same job, role, or future income level following the negligent act causing the injury.
- Expert or actuarial reports when future wages are impacted, often resulting in compensation for future monetary loss, future monetary award calculations, or future money expected to be awarded.
- Mitigation, meaning whether you reasonably attempted to return to suitable employment when medically able, even where an injury resulted from a negligent action or negligent acts by the defendant, negligent act by the other party, negligent act leading to inability to earn.
- Additional monetary awards may be added if your ability to earn has been permanently affected by the negligent act.
- Lost wages awards are not capped, meaning the total money awarded for lost income can extend into the millions in Canadian monetary law, especially for catastrophic injuries caused by negligent actions or a negligent act resulting in permanent disability.
It’s also worth noting that punitive damages cannot be awarded to compensate for lost wages, but lost income itself may still yield a large monetary award if the negligent act caused serious, long-term employment disruption.
Can both types of damages be awarded together?
Yes. In Canada, money awarded in injury cases can include multiple forms of monetary compensation at the same time if the negligent act, negligent actions, or negligent wrongdoing supports it.
Since pecuniary damages compensate financial loss, and non-pecuniary damages compensate personal harm, courts frequently award both, often resulting in a combined monetary award or money compensation sum awarded at settlement or trial.
In more serious cases, additional awards may also be included:
- Punitive damages – awarded to punish a negligent act or negligent behaviour that was extreme, malicious, or showed shocking misconduct. These amounts can be large monetary terms of compensation and are intended to hold the offender accountable beyond normal compensation.
- Nominal damages – a small monetary term or symbolic money amount awarded, usually where a negligent act violated a legal right, but did not cause major financial loss. Nominal damages awarded may be small, but they can still be awarded alongside non-pecuniary damages, pecuniary awards, and even punitive damages, depending on the negligence act
- Courts will award as much money as is fair and evidence-supported under Canadian monetary law, particularly where the negligent action caused both measurable financial harm and serious human suffering
To recap, the answer is yes: pecuniary, non-pecuniary, punitive, nominal monetary awards, and symbolic monetary terms can all appear in the same case when a negligent act supports them.
