Economic damages: the documented, countable losses
Economic damages are the straightforward, receipt-backed part of a claim. In a Minnesota personal injury case, this generally includes medical expenses already incurred, lost wages from time away from work, property damage, and reasonably anticipated future medical care or lost earning capacity tied directly to the injury.
Non-economic damages: the subjective losses
Non-economic damages cover the losses that don't come with a receipt: pain, suffering, emotional distress, and similar nonpecuniary harm. These are inherently harder to quantify, which is exactly why the multiplier method exists — to translate a documented economic figure into a reasoned estimate of the non-economic side.
Why this split carries less weight in Minnesota
In a state with a noneconomic damages cap, this split is often the single most consequential fact in the case — it determines which part of the recovery hits a ceiling. Minnesota has repeatedly declined to adopt such a cap, so the split doesn't gate anything here: both categories are recovered in full, limited only by the fault rule, not by which bucket they fall into.
Where the split still matters: proof, not limits
Even without a cap to worry about, the split still shapes how a claim gets built. Economic damages are proven with bills, pay stubs, and records; noneconomic damages are estimated, commonly through the multiplier method, off the strength of that same economic record. A thorough economic damages file still indirectly strengthens the noneconomic estimate, even though neither one is capped.
Fault treats both categories the same way
Minnesota's 51% bar under Minn. Stat. § 604.01 doesn't distinguish between economic and non-economic damages. If a claimant's fault bars the claim, it bars recovery of both categories together; below that threshold, both are reduced by the same proportion.