Breaking the Damages Lottery: Guidelines, Tables, and Discretion for Full Compensation of Non-Economic Losses in the EU

Breaking the Damages Lottery tackles the foundational question in personal injury law of how courts should translate pain and suffering into money. Synthesising a range of comparative research, Andrea Parziale explores how quantifying non-pecuniary damages (NPD) remains deeply subjective, and in turn produces an unfair and economically inefficient damages lottery in the EU.

Adopting an innovative approach that integrates legal analysis, case-law review, adjudicator interviews and multi-stakeholder focus groups, chapters examine how adjudicators navigate between standardised guidance and individual discretion. Parziale draws on qualitative research from five European legal systems to demonstrate the cognitive processes of decision-makers as well as the design flaws in key guidelines. Making a normative contribution to the field, the book proposes that well-designed standardisation can, under certain conditions, promote both equal treatment and personalisation in NPD awards more effectively than discretionary approaches.

Breaking the Damages Lottery is an essential resource for scholars of tort law, comparative law and EU private law. National and EU-level policymakers and legislative advisers, as well as legal practitioners in personal injury law, will equally benefit from its comparative discussions and practical insights.