Successful parties in lawsuits seeking to recover monies are awarded damages. Most damages are generally intended to compensate parties for losses they have suffered. Typically, therefore, damages are intended to make parties whole, that is, in the same condition they would have been had they not suffered a loss at the hands of a third party.
For example, damages would compensate an owner the dollar amounts sufficient to allow the owner to have defective work of a contractor repaired or replaced. In appropriate circumstances, the owner may also recover consequential damages such as loss of rents that would have been paid to the owner if the defective work had prevented the rental of the owner’s property.