When somebody makes you sustain a financial loss

Question

What verb do you use about the action of someone who causes you to suffer from a financial loss.

I.e. 1) imagine you know nothing of cars and someone who pretends to be knowledgeable about automobiles and their technical issues, wants to give you a hand to find a healthy automobile to purchase. When you buy the car, after a while you come across some mechanical disorders with your vehicle and find out that the guy had known nothing about the technical aspects of cars and he just lied to you.

Or

2) Let's suppose that you have a six-figure job and every moment is like gold for you. Something happens to you or someone drops by to you at your office and as a result you miss one day which you could gain at least thousands of dollars.

Or

3) when you eat something very detrimental to your health. I.e. you have some digestive problems i.e. an ulcer and you drink lemmon juice or vodka etc.

What these people or conditions or things do to you? How can I describe that?

Is it possible to say that:

• He/it has caused a loss to me.

I wonder if you help me with it.

Thank you in advance.

Answer 1

Yes, you can say that someone caused you "loss", although it would be phrased:

Examples

He caused me a loss.
or
He caused me to suffer a loss.

This is normally used specifically for financial losses, and so only your second example really fits this.

In law (UK law at least), when someone causes any kind of loss to another person that loss can also be known as damage, and compensatory payments for that loss as damages.

Example

I suffered damage to my income as a result of his actions.

Your 2nd and 3rd examples might be situations where damages could be claimed for - if someone's actions caused you a financial loss, or if someone's negligence had a negative impact on your health, you could perhaps pursue them for compensation for your damages.

Your first example is slightly different though - if someone deliberately lied and sold you damaged or faulty goods such as a car, that might be more a case of fraud or deception. Their actions could impact on you and there may be a case for damages as well, but the primary reason for pursuing them would probably be the deception with damages on top.

Answer 2

He/it has caused a loss to me.

It's not grammatically incorrect but it sounds stilted.

"a loss" can also suggest that you lost something other than money (an object, something metaphysical, ...). Lost money (in your intended sense, most notably that of your first example) is often referred to as a cost.

For your particular examples, I would use the following:

1. Your lack of expertise has cost me a lot of money.
2. That distraction has cost me a day's wage.

I'm not sure how the third example amount to a financial loss. I assume it's due to hospitalization? Assuming it cost you $1000 in medical bills and $10 for the vodka, you could say something along the lines of

3. That was a $1010 shot of vodka. (You can also round it to "a $1000 shot of vodka", it sounds better but is less accurate)

If it's not a financial cost, but rather that it's so bad for you that you've shortened your lifespan, you can use something along the lines of

3. That shot of vodka takes years off of your life.