If you have been hurt in a Norwalk CT accident or injury case involving a car crash, motorcycle accident, dog bite, slip and fall, child injury or other type of case you will have a great number of important questions that need to be answered immediately. Our firm’s attorneys have been practicing accident and injury law for decades. Get these much-needed answers now from attorneys who are here to help you right away. Don’t be injured a second time involving your Norwalk CT accident by unknowingly doing something that can harm your case.
In addition to compensatory damages, or money damages that are meant to make you whole by paying your past and future medical bills, lost wages, permanent injuries, pain and suffering, loss of consortium, out of pocket expenses, scar awards, property damages and psychological injuries, just to name a few, you might also be entitled to an award of punitive damages.
The CT Jury Instructions provide, in part, as follows for punitive damages:
Punitive damages are damages awarded not to compensate the plaintiff for any injury or losses but to punish the defendant for outrageous conduct and to deter (him/her) and others like (him/her) from similar conduct in the future. Punitive damages may be awarded for conduct that is outrageous, because of the defendant’s reckless indifference to the rights of others or an intentional and wanton violation of those rights. You may award punitive damages only if you unanimously find, from facts established by a preponderance of the evidence, that the conduct of the defendant was, in fact, outrageous.
The law does not require you to award punitive damages. It is, instead, a matter for your sound discretion. An award of punitive damages must not reflect bias, prejudice or sympathy with respect to any party. It must instead be fairly based on the evidence in the case. There is no exact standard for fixing the amount of punitive damages. The amount awarded, if any, should be the amount you unanimously find necessary for achieving the objectives of punitive damages that I have described. You should consider the degree of reprehensibility of the defendant’s misconduct and the actual or potential harm suffered by the plaintiff.
If you have been injured in a Norwalk CT accident, truck accident, motorcycle accident, dog bite, slip and fall or other type of Norwalk CT accident or injury case, we are here to help you. Get a free copy of our book, at catherinev2.sg-host.com, today so you can learn exactly what you should be doing. Don’t wait until it’s too late or call us at (888)-244-5480 today for a FREE consultation.