WPI 30.01.03 Noneconomic Damages—Definition

RCW 4.56.250(1)(b).

The statute defines noneconomic damages as “subjective, nonmonetary losses, including, but not limited to pain, suffering, inconvenience, mental anguish, disability or disfigurement incurred by the injured party, emotional distress, loss of society and companionship, loss of consortium, injury to reputation and humiliation, and destruction of the parent-child relationship.”

The WPI Committee chose not to define noneconomic damages for the jury. The WPI Committee believes a separate definition is not necessary because noneconomic damages are defined by example in the general instructions on the measure of economic and noneconomic damages. See WPI 30.01.01 (Measure of Economic and Noneconomic Damages—Personal Injury—No Contributory Negligence), WPI 30.02.01 (Measure of Economic and Noneconomic Damages—Personal Injury—Contributory Negligence—No Counterclaim), and WPI 30.03.01 (Measure of Economic and Noneconomic Damages—Personal Injury—Counterclaim). The approach of not defining noneconomic damages also eliminates speculation about the meaning of the word “subjective,” which is not defined by the statute.