Public Entities' Role in Consumer Protection

Californians injured or killed by the negligence of others, including public entities, deserve remedy via the civil justice system.
CAOC respects the important role many public entities play in enforcing our laws and protecting Californians, especially assaults on our key rights. Many CAOC members partner with public entities to seek redress and make changes on such critical issues as the marketing of e-cigarettes to children, getting lead paint out of our water supply and homes, and addressing unfair price fixing and market manipulation. 

However, some public entities, faced with budget issues, have sought changes to victims’ legal rights. Local governments have a responsibility to protect the health and safety of their communities — which means prioritizing investments in comprehensive safety and risk-prevention measures. Maintaining fiscal responsibility and ensuring that the victims of negligence and harm receive just compensation are not mutually exclusive goals. That being said, CAOC is always willing to listen, learn and address specific issues. In 2025, we worked with Senator Laird, Los Angeles County and survivor groups to balance the rights of survivors with the budgetary issues many public entities were facing.

Non-economic injuries (also called “pain and suffering” damages) are real injuries.
When a person is injured by the negligence of another, the injured person has a right to be “made whole” for their injury. That means that, as much as possible, the person who caused the injury has to compensate for it. 

Injuries take many forms. Property damage is perhaps the most straightforward injury to compensate for, since it is usually easy to determine exactly how much money it will take to restore the property to its previous condition. However, many injuries are not as easy to estimate, and that is why having a jury of one’s peers evaluate all facts and changes in a victim’s life is so important. A person who is paralyzed, suffers chronic or acute pain, or loses a limb in an accident cannot be “made whole,” but still deserves compensation for the loss.

Compensation for injuries falls into two categories:
Economic Damages: These are costs to the injured person which are readily convertible into a dollar amount, like repairs to a car, the cost of hospital care, wheelchairs, or physical therapy. 

Noneconomic Damage: These injuries are harm that are not easily converted to a dollar amount, including pain and suffering, disfigurement, loss of reputation, emotional distress, loss of fertility, loss of sexual function, and loss of enjoyment of life. They are often as important or more important to the injured person as the losses that can be directly converted into dollars.

While it might be impossible to say with certainty the value of the loss of fertility to a woman who wants to bear children, the value of reputation of a person who has been maligned, or the value of a quiet day with one’s family to a person in chronic, intense pain, it is clear that these are not insignificant losses. Indeed, compared to the prospect of a life of unceasing pain, or of emotional trauma caused by an emotional injury, the value of the hospital bills or other “economic” damages may be very small.