B. Damages awarded in addition to actual damages when the defendant acted with recklessness, malice, or deceit.
Listen to pronunciationLegal Definition -
Damages awarded in addition to actual damages when the defendant acted with recklessness, malice, or deceit; specifically, damages assessed by way of penalizing the wrongdoer or making an example to others. * Punitive damages which are intended to punish and thereby deter blameworthy conduct, are generally not recoverable for breach of contract.
Black's Law Dictionary® Eighth Edition © 2004
Recent Usage -
"A federal appeals court on Friday cut in half a $5 billion jury award for punitive damages against Exxon Mobil Corp in the 1989 Valdez oil spill that smeared black goo across roughly 1,500 miles of Alaskan coastline. It's the third time the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ordered the Anchorage court to reduce the $5 billion award, the nation's largest at the time, saying it was unconstitutionally excessive in light of U.S. Supreme Court precedent. This time, in its 2-1 decision, the court ordered a specific amount in damages, while its previous rulings demanded a lower court to come up with its own figures. 'It is time for this protracted litigation to end,' Chief Judge Mary Schroeder and Judge Andrew Kleinfeld wrote. U.S. District Judge H. Russel Holland of Anchorage begrudgingly complied in 2002, reducing damages to $4 billion. Irving, Texas-based Exxon again appealed. The following year, the appeals court ordered Holland to revisit his decision, this time balancing it against a new 2003 Supreme Court ruling that said punitive damages usually could not be more than nine times general damages. The Anchorage jury awarded $287 million in general damages -- and issued punitive damages that were 17 times that amount." David Kravets, The Associated Press Read More