“Damages” refers to the harms you face and the money that gets paid for those harms. We can split monetary damages into a few different categories, including “punitive damages.” Instead of paying you back for something like “compensatory damages,” punitive damages are there to punish the defendant for their wrongdoing.
Punitive or “exemplary” damages are usually authorized in Nevada, but only if you meet additional proof requirements. For these additional damages, you usually need to prove that the defendant’s conduct was “despicable,” “cruel,” or otherwise done with disregard for safety. You also have to prove this by “clear and convincing evidence,” a higher standard of proof. Different areas of injury cases have different specific rules, and caps usually apply to these additional damages.
For a free review of your case call the Las Vegas, NV personal injury attorneys at Mitchell Rogers Injury Law at (702) 702-2622.
What Are Punitive or Exemplary Damages?
Nevada law uses both names: “punitive” and “exemplary” damages. They are basically the same things with the same rules, though their names have different origins and histories.
When we say “punitive damages,” we mean that they are issued to punish the defendant for what they did wrong. When we say “exemplary damages,” we are highlighting the fact that we’re making an example of this defendant’s wrongdoing, and showing other potential defendants that this kind of conduct means paying higher damages.
This helps highlight the two goals:
- Punishing the defendant
- Detering this and other defendants from similar conduct in the future.
These damages are all separate from any “compensatory damages,” the damages used to pay you back for medical bills, lost earnings, pain and suffering, property damage, and other harms you faced.
Are Punitive Damages Available in Injury Cases in Nevada?
Nevada law generally authorizes punitive damages for exceptionally bad or dangerous conduct. This conduct has to be the basis for a breach of duty – called an “obligation” in the statute – and it needs to fall into one of these three categories:
- Opression, which covers “despicable conduct” that is “cruel and unjust” toward a person and has no regard for their rights
- Fraud, meaning that they hid or lied about a danger, allowing someone to get hurt.
- Malice, which includes the intent to hurt someone or a disregard for their rights or safety.
These definitions might overlap a bit, but the point is that the conduct has to be exceptionally bad, not just an accident. For example, a manufacturer hiding known cancer risks from buyers or a property owner hiding nails in their lawn for people to step on would probably qualify, but it’s not always obvious whether these would be oppression, fraud, or malice. Our Nevada personal injury lawyers would look at the specifics of your case to determine how to formulate our claim.
Punitive Damages for Drunk Driving Accidents
For drunk driving cases, punitive damages are expressly authorized by a different statute, so the rules are a bit different. You just need to prove the case meets the definition of certain drunk driving crimes and that they intentionally consumed the alcohol or drugs before driving to get punitive damages.
The Process for Getting Punitive Damages
Usually, you cannot get punitive damages in a settlement. People, businesses, and insurance companies won’t usually admit they did really bad things, and they won’t voluntarily agree to pay extra damages to punish themselves. Instead, these are usually issued by a court.
Usually, there needs to be a special verdict authorizing these damages, then they decide how much they are. Usually, the jury cannot know about any caps on these damages and cannot look at the defendant’s financial condition when making these decisions. They are supposed to choose what feels right to them.
What is the Clear and Convincing Evidence Standard?
Usually, injury claims must be proven “by a preponderance of the evidence.” This is a “more likely than not” standard and is the standard burden of proof for many things in the law. This is viewed as a “more than 50%” level of certainty.
You may also be familiar with the “beyond a reasonable doubt” standard – a much higher burden of proof used in criminal cases. That requires certainty in the 99-100% range.
The “clear and convincing evidence” standard lies somewhere in the middle. You need to convince the jury that it is pretty obvious that this bad conduct happened. This makes the certainty level around 75% or even 80-90%.
Punitive Damages Against a Company or Business
When you’re suing an individual, they are the one person responsible for their actions. This means you can easily punish them for what they did wrong. When it comes to suing a company, you are usually suing for what their employer did while working for them. This sometimes makes it harder – or even unfair – to hold the company liable for a rogue worker’s additional wrongdoing.
As long as the person who hurt you was an employee working within the scope of their duties when they caused an accident, you can hold their employer liable for the accident. However, the standard is higher for punitive damages.
Instead, you must show that the company knew about or condoned the wrongdoing before you can get punitives. This means showing any one of these:
- The company knew in advance the worker was unfit,
- They expressly condoned the bad actions, or
- The company was the one actually doing the fraud, malice, or oppression.
If the company is a corporation, then you have to actually pin these wrongful decisions on an officer that had the authority to make these decisions, not just some shift supervisor or manager.
Punitive Damage Caps in Nevada
Generally speaking, punitive damages are capped, meaning defendants cannot be made to pay more than the statute authorizes:
- For compensatory damages under $100,000, the cap is $300,000.
- For compensatory damages of $100,000 or more, the cap is three times the compensatory damages.
This actually helps lower-dollar cases get more than three times the other damages, since a case worth $50,000, for example, still has a $300,000 cap on punitives.
These caps do not apply to certain cases, including defective products claims, bad faith insurance claims, toxic torts, and some other non-injury cases.
These caps also do not apply to drunk driving accidents, since those punitive damages come under a different statute.
Call Our Personal Injury Attorneys in Nevada for Help Today
For a free review of an injury case, call our Winchester, NV personal injury lawyers at Mitchell Rogers Injury Law at (702) 702-2622.