It is rare for a court to award punitive damages in a personal injury case, but it can happen. Illinois law stipulates what has to get proven to justify an order of punitive damages in addition to compensatory damages.
A Chicago personal injury attorney could handle your personal injury claim whether you seek punitive damages in addition to compensatory damages, or if you seek compensatory damages alone. Let’s explore the question “What are punitive damages?”
An Overview of Punitive Damages
In a typical personal injury case, the injured person claims that the at-fault party caused the accident or incident, usually through negligence. The defendant was not trying to hurt anyone. The defendant was merely careless, for example, daydreaming while at the wheel.
Sometimes, however, the defendant’s behavior was so outrageous that the jury might support a request for punitive damages, which are a type of compensation that gets tacked on to the compensatory damages. In other words, after the jury decides how much money you will get for your injuries, they might award an additional sum to punish the defendant and discourage others from similar conduct.
The Illinois jury instructions say that the jury will have to find that:
- The conduct of the defendant was intentional, willful and wanton, or fraudulent, and
- That wrongful conduct proximately caused the injuries to the plaintiff, and
- Justice and the public good require an award of punitive damages to punish the defendant and discourage others from committing similar acts.
When Punitive Damages Are Awarded
Here are a few examples of situations in which a jury might award punitive damages:
- After leaving divorce court, one spouse drove their car into the other spouse who was walking to their own car, ran over them, and caused debilitating injuries.
- A drunk driver with a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) more than double the legal limit caused a multi-vehicle, high-speed crash with severe injuries and multiple fatalities. The drunk driver did not have a driver’s license because they had four previous DWI convictions.
- An emergency room physician turned off the heart rate monitors and did not perform CPR on an unconscious patient after recognizing her as their former mother-in-law.
- A person pretending to be a plastic surgeon and practicing medicine under fake credentials botched multiple procedures, causing grievous disfigurement to several patients.
In cases like these, the jury might be convinced that the conduct was intentional, willful and wanton, or fraudulent.
Compensatory Damages
Punitive damages are different from compensatory damages. Compensatory damages are just what they sound like, intended to compensate a person for their injuries and other losses. Common categories of compensatory damages in personal injury cases include things like:
- The reasonable cost of medical treatment for their wounds. This category can include the ambulance, emergency room, physicians, diagnostic procedures, hospitals, surgery, physical therapy, pain management, and other related medical costs.
- Lost wages. If the plaintive did not receive their regular amount of income because they could not work while recuperating from their injuries or undergoing medical procedures like physical therapy, they can add this financial loss to their claim.
- Pain and suffering. This category is in addition to getting your medical bills paid. The physical discomfort and emotional distress of getting injured because of someone else’s negligence are valid losses.
Contact Our Chicago Personal Injury Attorneys
You can talk to the Chicago Personal Injury Attorneys of Hale & Monico about your personal injury case. Get in touch with our office today. There is no charge for the initial consultation.