What Are Punitive Damages?
When you are injured in accident due to someone else's negligence in the State of Georgia, you may decide to speak to a personal injury lawyer about filing a lawsuit to get compensation for your injuries. Common accidents include slip and fall injuries, car wreck injuries, injury from a defective product or a medical malpractice case. In any type of lawsuit you can ask for different types of damages. An experienced Georgia personal injury lawyer will be able to tell you how much you should ask for and what you can reasonably expect to receive.
For personal injury cases, you may have heard the terms punitive and compensatory damages, but you're not sure what they mean. Compensatory damages are the monetary amount that was lost when you were injured. For example, if you were injured in a car wreck the cost of replacing or fixing your vehicle, your medical bills, and the time you had to miss from work are likely to be considered compensatory damages. In order to get compensatory damages you and your personal injury lawyer must prove to a jury or judge that you suffered reasonably recognizable harm and that the amount of compensation is needed to make you whole again.
The other type of damages is punitive damages. These are also called exemplary damages because these are damages that a judge or jury awards to you the plaintiff as a way of punishing those that injured you. Punitive damages can often be extremely large amounts, sometimes in the millions. Punitive damages are the only rewarded if the negligent party displayed extreme recklessness and therefore should be punished so that they are more careful next time. This is usually with large businesses that were aware of their actions but decided to cause harm anyway.
damages can be hard to rely on receiving and the best way to make sure that you get the money you deserve it by speaking to an experienced personal injury lawyer. The Georgia personal injury lawyers at The Berry Law Group are here to help you with your injury case. Our lawyers can explain to you in more detail the different types of damages you can ask for and what you can reasonably expect to be compensated. Call us today.