Compensatory & Punitive Damages

So far,we have covered many areas of tort law in which we have discussed various theories on the vindication of a plaintiff who has sustained certain injuries.Once the plaintiff has established her case,the natural question that will follow is: what then?

In every lawsuit,the issues will usually and eventually boil down to the questions of what kind of remedies are available and what the plaintiff is entitled to,and in what form.In most cases the plaintiff’s damages can be measured in terms of pecuniary compensation,and in others,recuperation.Physical injuries to personal health and well being are usually difficult,and most probably,cannot be restored to the condition before the injury.Hence monetary damages have to be assessed against the wrongdoer for redress.

Sometimes,assessing the damages is the hardest part of legal actions – what can be included in the awards,and what cannot.In addition,a plaintiff cannot (at least under the American practice) have a “second bite,” – meaning,the damages have to be a lump sum award,and the defendant will be released.The plaintiff is not allowed for a second thought later on to request more.(https://www.daowen.com)

As a sidebar,American courts are known (sometimes infamously) to award extraordinarily large amount of damages,[1] which has aroused envies for tort claimants elsewhere in the world.Many of them would,whenever they could,like to get their cases into American courts.[2] It has caused much problem on the one hand,for example,for the medical profession for malpractice claims which eventually led to higher medical insurance premiums;on the other,frivolous lawsuits mushroomed leading to both clogs on judicial efficiency,and deterioration of the tort profession.In this respect,tort reform has been a hot topic.

The subject of Remedies is actually a separate course for legal studies in many law schools,as it varies a great deal for different areas of law.In the economic area such as intellectual property law,for example,it frequently involves injunctive relief which requires that a defendant refrain from doing certain activities without having to pay monetary damages.At present,our focus is the remedy for personal injuries (including physical and economical injuries).