STATE LAW – OREGON LIBRARY – GUIDE 19
Crash Damages
A crash claim should measure the harm caused—not merely the amount of insurance available. Oregon separates objectively verifiable economic losses from noneconomic human losses such as pain, emotional distress and interference with normal life. A complete damages investigation documents the past, projects reasonably probable future loss and keeps damages separate from policy limits, comparative fault and reimbursement obligations.
Damages, insurance and settlement value are three different things
Medical, income, property, future loss and human consequences.
Liability, excess, UM/UIM, PIP and other coverage sources.
Liability risk, proof, limits, collectibility and litigation risk
influence settlement separately.
Oregon separates economic and noneconomic damages
ORS 31.705 requires the verdict to identify these categories separately.
Objectively verifiable monetary losses: medical care, lost income,
future earning-capacity impairment, substitute services, property
repair or replacement, loss of use and other provable financial loss.
Subjective nonmonetary losses: pain, mental suffering, emotional
distress, inconvenience, loss of care and companionship, consortium
and interference with ordinary life.
Economic damages extend beyond medical bills
| Economic category | Potential crash loss |
|---|---|
| Medical |
Emergency care, physicians, hospital, surgery, rehabilitation, medication and other reasonable health-care services. |
| Future medical |
Reasonably probable future treatment, therapy, medication, surgery, equipment and care. |
| Past income | Earnings actually lost because crash injuries prevented work. |
| Future earning capacity |
Reduction in ability to earn because of lasting physical or cognitive limitations. |
| Domestic services | Reasonable and necessary substitute household services. |
| Vehicle / property | Repair, replacement and other provable property loss. |
| Loss of use | Reasonable costs resulting from inability to use damaged property. |
Oregon medical damages focus on reasonable charges for necessary treatment
Diagnosis and chronology should connect treatment to the collision.
Medical records and provider testimony may establish need.
An invoice alone does not necessarily establish reasonable value.
White v. Jubitz prevents a simple “amount paid” damages formula
A preexisting condition does not erase crash-caused aggravation
The investigation should establish the claimant’s condition before the
collision and determine what changed because of the collision.
Symptoms, diagnoses, treatment, function and work ability.
New symptoms, objective findings and treatment beginning after impact.
Determine whether the collision permanently or temporarily worsened
the underlying condition.
Future medical damages should be tied to reasonable probability
Future treatment cannot simply be guessed from the severity of the
original crash.
Surgery, therapy, injections, medication, equipment or assistance.
Medical opinion should distinguish reasonable probability from possibility.
Use supported medical and economic evidence where future cost is material.
Lost wages and impaired earning capacity are different losses
Work missed because the claimant could not work as a result of
crash-caused injury.
A permanent restriction can diminish future earning ability even when
the claimant later returns to some work.
Oregon prohibits race-based future earning calculations
Future earning analysis should instead focus on evidence such as:
education, work history, occupation, age, training, actual earnings,
advancement opportunities, functional restrictions and economic data
unrelated to race or ethnicity.
Noneconomic damages measure how the injury changed the person’s life
Acute injury, treatment pain, recurring symptoms and permanent
discomfort.
Distress, anxiety, fear, sleep disturbance and other supported
consequences.
The inability to participate normally in daily, family, recreational
and community life.
Document the before-and-after life
| Life area | Evidence to preserve |
|---|---|
| Mobility | Walking, stairs, driving, lifting and physical independence. |
| Sleep | Interrupted sleep, positioning, medication and fatigue. |
| Family | Child care, relationships, companionship and household roles. |
| Recreation | Sports, travel, hobbies, exercise and community activities. |
| Work | Pain at work, reduced endurance, accommodations and changed duties. |
| Independence | Need for help with transportation, household work or personal care. |
Oregon collateral-source law is more nuanced than subtracting every benefit
Benefits the claimant or estate is obligated to repay fall within an
express statutory exception.
Insurance benefits for which the injured person or family paid
premiums are expressly excepted.
Oregon expressly identifies these benefits in the collateral-source
exceptions.
Federal Social Security benefits are expressly excepted.
PIP benefits are not the measure of the tort claim
PIP reimbursement and the interaction between first-party benefits and
the tort recovery are addressed in Guide 21.
Vehicle damages can include repair, value and loss of use
Estimates, supplements, final invoices and postrepair inspection can
establish what restoration actually required.
Preloss market value and, where properly proved, remaining diminished
value may become relevant.
Rental or reasonable rental value can establish loss during a
reasonable repair period.
A repaired vehicle can still have uncompensated loss
Oregon recognizes reasonable vehicle loss-of-use damages
An advance payment is not automatically an admission of liability
A qualifying advance payment for injury or death ordinarily is not
an admission of liability unless the parties agree otherwise in
writing.
The same general nonadmission rule applies to qualifying advance
property-damage payments.
Determine full damages before reducing them for comparative fault
The full-damages number and the comparative-fault reduction should remain
analytically separate.
Guide 17 explains Oregon’s 50-percent threshold and several-liability
system.
Check the special motor-vehicle damages statutes separately
Ordinary nonuse generally may mitigate personal-injury damages by no
more than five percent, subject to statutory exceptions.
Can restrict noneconomic damages in specified circumstances, subject
to important statutory exceptions.
Punitive damages require proof far beyond ordinary negligence
A punitive verdict is not paid entirely to the plaintiff
ORS 31.735 allocates thirty percent to the prevailing party, subject
to the statute’s attorney-fee provisions.
Paid through the Attorney General for the Criminal Injuries
Compensation Account, subject to the statute.
Allocated to the State Court Facilities and Security Account through
the Attorney General.
Oregon gives qualifying small tort claims a special attorney-fee procedure
The statute specifically requires reasonably available medical
documentation for injury claims or repair/value documentation for
property claims.
This can be important in relatively small automobile disputes.
Do not let available insurance redefine the damages
| Question | Example |
|---|---|
| Total economic loss | $175,000 |
| Total noneconomic loss | $325,000 |
| Total damages | $500,000 |
| Defendant liability insurance | $100,000 |
| Uncompensated exposure after primary limits |
Potentially $400,000 before considering other insurance, defendants, collectibility and UIM. |
Build the damages file while the claim develops
Keep treatment chronologically organized and connect future care to
medical opinion.
Distinguish missed income from future earning-capacity loss.
Document ordinary activities rather than relying on abstract pain
descriptions alone.
Preserve valuation, repair supplements, rental and diminished-value
evidence.
Track every PIP, health, Medicare, Medicaid, workers’ compensation
and other payment.
Future damages require evidence of what is likely to occur—not merely
what could occur.
Oregon 20-step crash damages workflow
Build the complete diagnosis list.
Connect the crash to the conditions claimed.
Separate new injury from aggravation of prior conditions.
Emergency through current treatment.
Analyze reasonableness and necessity under Oregon law.
Use reasonably probable recommendations.
Employer, payroll, tax and disability evidence.
Determine whether future earning ability has been reduced.
Household and personal assistance reasonably required.
Pain, emotional effects and interference with normal life.
Repair, total loss, diminished value and associated expenses.
Document rental and repair duration.
Apply ORS 31.580 only after classifying each benefit correctly.
PIP, health, Medicare, Medicaid, workers’ compensation and ERISA.
Do this before comparative-fault reduction.
Use Guide 17’s Oregon allocation rules.
Government, seat belt, ORS 31.715 and other claim-specific rules.
Ordinary negligence does not satisfy ORS 31.730.
Primary liability, excess, other defendants and UIM.
Resolve liens and reimbursement before final claim closure.
Oregon Guide 19 authority map
| Authority | Damages function |
|---|---|
| ORS 31.705 |
Requires separate economic and noneconomic verdicts and defines both categories. |
| ORS 31.710 |
Current statutory noneconomic-damages limitation directed to wrongful-death claims, developed further in Guide 20. |
| ORS 31.715 |
Separate noneconomic-damages limitation for specified uninsured or DUII motor-vehicle plaintiffs, subject to exceptions. |
| ORS 31.580 |
Governs specified collateral-benefit deductions and statutory exceptions. |
| ORS 31.725 |
Establishes Oregon’s procedure for adding a punitive-damages claim after an action is filed. |
| ORS 31.730 |
Establishes clear-and-convincing proof standard for punitive damages. |
| ORS 31.735 | Governs statutory distribution of Oregon punitive-damages awards. |
| ORS 31.760 |
Special five-percent seat-belt mitigation rule, subject to statutory exceptions. |
| ORS 31.770 |
Prohibits race- or ethnicity-based calculations of future earning potential. |
| ORS 20.080 |
Provides a potential attorney-fee remedy in qualifying tort claims pleaded for $10,000 or less after proper statutory demand. |
| ORS 12.155 |
Can affect limitations where qualifying advance payments are made without the required statutory notice. |
| White v. Jubitz |
Leading authority concerning reasonable medical charges, write-offs and Oregon collateral-source law. |
| Gonzales v. Farmers |
Important first-party policy authority concerning restoration and residual diminished value after vehicle repair. |
Primary Oregon sources for Guide 19
Economic and noneconomic damages, collateral benefits, comparative
fault, punitive damages and mitigation.
Oregon’s attorney-fee procedure for qualifying tort claims pleaded
for $10,000 or less.
ORS 12.155 addresses the limitations consequences of qualifying
advance payments and statutory notice.
Oregon Supreme Court authority on medical charges, insurance
write-offs and collateral benefits.
Oregon Supreme Court decision preceding the Legislature’s 2021
narrowing of ORS 31.710.
Oregon Supreme Court first-party insurance authority concerning
vehicle repair and remaining diminished value.
Combine Oregon’s 2025 codification with 2025 special-session and
2026 Oregon Laws.
Guide 20 addresses Oregon’s separate statutory damages and procedural
system when a crash causes death.
Crash Investigation
Wrongful Death & Survival Claims
Measure the injury before measuring the insurance.
Identify every medical, income, property and human loss caused by the
collision. Establish past damages from records and future damages from
reasonable probability. Document the person’s actual before-and-after
life rather than using medical-bill multipliers. Keep collateral benefits,
liens, comparative fault and policy limits analytically separate. Only
after the full damages model exists should the claim be matched against
liability insurance, excess coverage and potential UM/UIM.
Public-interest education only. No legal services offered or accepted.
No attorney-client relationship created.