PUNITIVE DAMAGES

In many personal injury cases the injured plaintiff may be able to request punitive damages in addition to damages designed to compensate plaintiff for losses and to make him whole. As the name indicates, punitive damages are a separate class of money damages which are intended to actually punish the defendant for particularly egregious conduct. There can be many factual situations that can give rise to potential punitive damages. This can be an auto collision caused by a defendant who was driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs and/or driving at extreme speeds and in a reckless manner. It can be justified in cases of dog bites where a defendant dog owner knew of the animal’s aggressive and dangerous nature or training and failed to fulfill his duty to control the dangerous and vicious animal in order to protect others from foreseeable injury. Punitive damages may be added to claims for auto accidents, truck accidents, motorcycle accidents, bodily injuries, wrongful death, intentional assault and battery, elder abuse, defamation, financial fraud and other claims. Punitive damages may be awarded if the jury finds by clear and convincing evidence that the defendant acted with “malice, fraud, or oppression”. The California Civil Code specifically defines the meanings of malice, fraud and oppression.

Malice is conduct which is intended to cause injury to the
plaintiff or despicable conduct which is carried on by the defendant with a willful and conscious disregard of the rights or safety of others.  “Despicable” means base, vile, or contemptible. Malice does not require an intent to harm the injured person. Conscious disregard for the safety of others will establish malice where the defendant is aware of the probable dangerous consequences of his conduct and he willfully fails to avoid those consequences. Malice can be proven either by direct testimony or through circumstantial evidence. Driving a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol or drugs can often meet this definition for malice because drivers are made aware of the probable dangerous consequences of illegally driving while impaired when they obtain or renew their driver’s license.

Oppression is despicable conduct that subjects others to cruel and unjust hardship in conscious disregard of a person’s rights. Fraud means an intentional misrepresentation, deceit, or concealment of a material fact that was known to the defendant, made with the intent to deprive a person of property or of rights or otherwise causing injury. Torts of elder financial abuse may justify punitive damages where there is proof of the intent to injure an elder or dependant adult by deceit or concealment of facts.

The plaintiff has the burden of proving the defendant’s malice, oppression, or fraud by “clear and convincing” evidence. This is a higher standard than a preponderance of the evidence usually required in civil cases but not as high as beyond a reasonable doubt as required in criminal cases. The standard is usually described as meaning a “high degree of probability” that it is true, rather than just more likely than not.

Punitive damages must bear a reasonable relationship to the amount of compensatory damages awarded in a case. Compensatory damages are damages designed only to compensate the plaintiff for his actual injury or loss. In the case of bodily injury cases that will include economic damages of actual health care expenses incurred to treat the injuries caused by the defendant’s negligence. It also includes lost wages and loss of future earning capacity. Non-economic damages are intended to compensate the injured plaintiff for actual pain, suffering, distress, anxiety and other losses and injuries that are not otherwise quantifiable by showing evidence of bills, expenses and salary or wages lost.

Actual evidence of the defendant’s financial condition is also required in order to recover punitive damages, because the damages must in an amount not so low that the defendant can absorb it with little or no discomfort, nor so high that it destroys the defendant. The court cannot determine whether punitive damages are legally excessive without actual evidence of the defendant’s total financial condition, including assets, income, liabilities and expenses.

If you have been injured by the wrongful actions of another you should immediately retain the services of capable and experienced attorneys who know how to develop evidence to recover all damages to which you are entitled, including punitive damages where your injuries were caused by extremely wrongful conduct meeting the definition of malice, fraud or oppression. Contact Curry and Curry to have your personal injury case evaluated at no cost to you by a trial attorney with over 30 years of experience successfully handling personal injury litigation. No attorney fees for personal injury claims will be payable until and unless we obtain a recovery for you by judgment or settlement.

Photo by Kindel Media via Pexels.com