General damages

General damages are the compensation head for the injury itself: the pain, the suffering and the way it has changed your daily life.

Malaysian courts assess this head under section 28A of the Civil Law Act 1956, using medical evidence and a published guide to keep awards broadly consistent between similar injuries.^[1] It is not a fixed price list; the court weighs your specific injury, its severity and its lasting effect on you.

General damages sit alongside, not instead of, special damages for money you have actually spent. Both are usually claimed together in the same case.

To see how this head fits with everything else, read how compensation is worked out.