damage vs. damages

English translation: See explanation

04:05 Jul 11, 2005

English language (monolingual) [PRO]
Insurance / Insurancespeak

English term or phrase: damage vs. damages

I'm working on a quite detailed insurance document which is somewhat challenging.

I found myself dealing a lot with damage/damages (financial, physical, compensatory, etc.)

I know it would sound incorrect to say "He suffered car damages."

But we say, "He sued for compensatory damages" or "She sued for damages due to her emotional suffering."

Does anybody with an insurance/legal background have any good and fast rules on this? Is it just "damage" for physical and "damages" for basically anything else.

Thanks.

Ron Stelter KudoZ activity Questions: 1481 (none open) (16 closed without grading) Answers: 304
Local time: 06:57

Selected answer:See explanation

Explanation:
"Damage" is used in situation where there is actual damage (physical, emotional, psychological, etc.)

"Damages" is a legal term for money that is ordered to be paid as compensation for for injury or loss.

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Note added at 2 hrs 0 min (2005-07-11 06:06:11 GMT)
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To clarify a little bit more, \"damages\" used as a noun is the legal term for compensatory money (ex. I\'m suing for damages). \"Damages\" used as a verb is simply the plural for physical damage (ex. It damages the paint on the car).

Selected response from:

aira07
Local time: 04:57

Grading comment

Thanks.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer

SUMMARY OF ALL EXPLANATIONS PROVIDED

5 +5

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aira07

[not for grading]

Nick Lingris

Answers

1 hr confidence:

peer agreement (net): +5

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aira07
Local time: 04:57
Native speaker of:

Japanese,

English
PRO pts in category: 4

Grading comment

Thanks.

5 hrs confidence:

[not for grading]

Explanation:
Just an OCR from the English Law Dictionary (Peter Collin Publishing). I hope it helps.

1. damage (noun)
(a) harm done to things (NOTE. no plural);
- fire damage = damage caused by a fire
- malicious damage = deliberate and intentional harming of property
- storm damage = damage caused by a storm
- to suffer damage = to be harmed
- to cause damage = to harm something
- causing criminal damage = notifiable offence where serious damage is caused
- damage feasant = situation where the animals of one person damage the property of another person

(b) damages = money claimed by a plaintiff from a defendant as compensation for harm done
- to claim £1,000 in damages
- to be liable for or in damages
- to pay £25,000 in damages
- to bring an action for damages against someone = to take someone to court and claim damages
- aggravated damages = damages awarded by court against a defendant who has behaved maliciously or wilfully
- compensatory damages = damages which compensate for the loss or harm suffered
- exemplary damages = damages which punish the defendant for the loss or harm caused to the plaintiff or heavy damages awarded to show that the court feels the defendant has behaved badly towards the plaintiff
- general damages = damages awarded by court to compensate for a loss which cannot be calculated (such as an injury)
- measure of damages = calculation of how much money a court should order one party to pay another to compensate for a tort or breach
- mitigation of damages = reduction in the extent of damages awarded
- nominal damages = very small amount of damages, awarded to show that the loss or harm suffered was technical rather than actual
- special damages = damages awarded by court to compensate for a loss which can be calculated (such as the expense of repairing something)
NOTE damages are noted at the end of a report on a case as: Special damages: £100 General damages: £1,500

2. (verb) to harm
- the storm damaged the cargo
- stock which has been damaged by water
- he alleged that the newspaper article was damaging to the company's reputation

damaged (adjective) which has suffered damage or which has been harmed
- fire-damaged goods = goods harmed in a fire

Nick Lingris
United Kingdom
Local time: 12:57
Native speaker of:

Greek

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