What is the difference between actual and punitive damages?

What is another name for actual damages?

Generally, there are two types of damages: compensatory and punitive. (The term "damages" typically includes both categories, but the term, "actual damages" is synonymous with compensatory damages, and excludes punitive damages.)

What is included in actual damages?

The amount awarded is based on the proven harm, loss, or injury suffered by the plaintiff. This award does not include punitive damages, which may be awarded when the defendant's actions are especially reckless or malicious.

Which is the best description of punitive damages?

Punitive damages are legal recompense that a defendant found guilty of committing a wrong or offense is ordered to pay on top of compensatory damages. They are awarded by a court of law not to compensate injured plaintiffs but to punish defendants whose conduct is considered grossly negligent or intentional.

How do I sue for punitive damages?

As such, punitive damages are usually reserved for cases where the defendant's conduct is beyond merely negligent or intentional; the conduct must be reckless, malicious, fraudulent, wanton, outrageous, or otherwise more deserving of punishment in the eyes of the judge or jury.

What are nominal damages?

A trivial sum of money awarded to a plaintiff whose legal right has been technically violated but who has not established that they are entitled to compensatory damages because there was no accompanying loss or harm. ... Barker the court held that the plaintiff was entitled to nominal damages of $100.

What is the difference between nominal and contemptuous damages?

Contemptuous damages are a form of damage award available in some jurisdictions. They are similar to nominal damages awards, as they are given when the plaintiff's suit is trivial, used only to settle a point of honour or law.

What are punitive damages in insurance?

Punitive Damages — damages in excess of those required to compensate the plaintiff for the wrong done, which are imposed in order to punish the defendant because of the particularly wanton or willful nature of his or her wrongdoing.

What are the two types of compensatory damages?

There are two types of compensatory damages—general and actual. Actual damages are intended to provide funds to only replace what was lost. General compensatory damages awarded are more complex, as these compensatory damages do not represent a monetary expenditure.

How do you get punitive damages?

A defendant who acted in negligence isn't enough to justify the awarding of punitive damages. For punitive damages to be awarded, the defendant needs to have acted in a way that is either malicious, purposeful, or a combination of the two.

What is the opposite of punitive?

Opposite of inflicting or intended as punishment or a form of vengeance. nonpunitive. nonpunishable.

What are the different kinds of damages?

How often are punitive damages awarded?

However, statistical studies by law professors and the Department of Justice have found that punitive damages are only awarded in two percent of civil cases which go to trial, and that the median punitive damage award is between $38,000 and $50,000.

When can you recover punitive damages?

California law allows plaintiffs to recover punitive damages when they can show that their injuries were caused by the defendant's malice, oppression or fraud, typically in cases of intentional harm or extreme recklessness.

What is the burden of proof to recover punitive damages?

Clear and convincing evidence is the burden of proof the California courts place on recovering punitive damages during a civil claim. This standard requires proof that the evidence presented is substantially more likely to be true than not true.

What is one argument given against the awarding of punitive damages?

The punitive damages award does not compensate a plaintiff for his or her injuries, but instead focuses entirely on punishment and deterrence. Not surprisingly, defendants will often challenge an award of punitive damages on appeal, particularly when facing a large award.

Do you pay taxes on compensatory damages?

Compensatory damages are not taxed by the State of California nor by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Both state and federal taxes have the same requirements on taxable and non-taxable compensations.

Are punitive damages taxable?

Punitive Damages: Punitive damages are taxable and should be reported as “Other Income” on line 8z of Form 1040, Schedule 1, even if the punitive damages were received in a settlement for personal physical injuries or physical sickness.

Do actual damages include emotional distress?

In a 5-3 decision in Federal Aviation Administration v. Cooper, Justice Samuel Alito, writing for the majority, said “actual damages” in context of the Privacy Act do not include damages for mental or emotional distress and the government maintains sovereign immunity from such claims under the act.

Do actual damages include consequential damages?

Consequential damages are not direct damages but are damages that necessarily arise from the specific nature of the breach of contract.

Are lost wages actual damages?

California law allows for plaintiffs to recover lost wages in personal injury cases. ... Both lost wages and lost earning capacity are part of the compensatory damages a plaintiff can recover for a defendant's negligence, gross negligence, recklessness, intentional wrongful acts or strict liability.