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Punitive damages (termed exemplary damages in the United Kingdom) are damages not awarded in order to compensate the plaintiff, but in order to reform or deter the defendant and similar persons from pursuing a course of action such as that which damaged the plaintiff. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located In Law, damages refers to the money paid or awarded to a Claimant (England Pursuer (Scotland or Plaintiff (US following a successful A plaintiff ( Π in Legal shorthand) also known as a claimant or complainant, is the party who initiates a Lawsuit A defendant or defender ( Δ in Legal shorthand) is any party who is required to answer the Complaint of a Plaintiff

Punitive damages are often awarded where compensatory damages are deemed an inadequate remedy. In Law, damages refers to the money paid or awarded to a Claimant (England Pursuer (Scotland or Plaintiff (US following a successful The court may impose them to prevent under-compensation of plaintiffs, to allow redress for undetectable torts and taking some strain away from the criminal justice system. [1] However, punitive damages awarded under court system that recognize them, may be difficult to enforce in jursidictions that do not recgonize them. Punitive damages awarded to one party in a US case would be difficult to get recognition for in a European court, where punitive damages are most likely to be considered to violate ordre public[2]

Because they usually compensate the plaintiff in excess of the plaintiff's provable injuries, punitive damages are awarded only in special cases, usually under tort law, where the defendant's conduct was egregiously insidious. Public policy is the body of fundamental principles that underpin the operation of legal systems in each state. Tort law is the name given to a body of law that creates and provides remedies for civil wrongs that do not arise out of Contractual duties Punitive damages cannot generally be awarded in contract disputes. A contract is an exchange of promises between two or more parties to do or refrain from doing an act which is enforceable in a court of law

Contents

National applications

United Kingdom and Commonwealth

In England and Wales, exemplary damages are limited to the circumstances set out by Lord Patrick Devlin in the leading case of Rookes v. Barnard. England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland Patrick Arthur Devlin Baron Devlin PC ( 25 November 1905 - 9 August 1992) was a British Lawyer, Judge Rookes v Barnard AC 1129 1 All ER 367 is the leading case in English law on Punitive damages and was a turning point in judicial activism against trade [3] They are:

  1. Oppressive, arbitrary or unconstitutional actions by the servants of government.
  2. Where the defendant's conduct was 'calculated' to make a profit for himself.
  3. Where a statute expressly authorises the same.

Rookes v Barnard has been much criticised and has not been followed in Canada or Australia or by the Privy Council. Country to "Dominion of Canada" or "Canadian Federation" or anything else please read the Talk Page For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Australia topics. A privy council is a body that advises the Head of state of a nation on how to exercise their executive authority, typically but not always in the context of a [4]

Another case, that could arguably be seen as an example of punitive damages, was that of Attorney-General v Blake[5] in which the defendant profited from publishing a book detailing his work for MI5. In Law, damages refers to the money paid or awarded to a Claimant (England Pursuer (Scotland or Plaintiff (US following a successful A Book is a set or collection of written printed illustrated or blank sheets made of Paper, Parchment, or other material usually fastened together The details were very old and therefore did not cause loss to the state. The publishing was however in breach of the contract of employment (and incidently criminally in breach of the Official Secrets Act 1911). Breach of contract is a Legal concept in which a Binding agreement or bargained-for exchange is not honored by one or more of the parties to the contract by non-performance The term criminal law, sometimes called penal law, refers to any of various bodies of rules in different Jurisdictions whose common characteristic is the potential The Official Secrets Act is any of several Acts of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for the protection of official information mainly related to National He was required to give an account of his profits gained from writing the book.

The courts have been very reluctant to follow this approach,[6] emphasising the materiality of the criminal element required for these damages to be considered. A court is a forum used by a power base to adjudicate disputes and dispense civil, labour administrative and criminal Justice under its The term criminal law, sometimes called penal law, refers to any of various bodies of rules in different Jurisdictions whose common characteristic is the potential In Law, damages refers to the money paid or awarded to a Claimant (England Pursuer (Scotland or Plaintiff (US following a successful

In New Zealand it was held in Donselaar v. New Zealand is an Island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses (the North Island and the South Island Donselaar [1982] 1 NZLR 97 and confirmed in Auckland City Council v. Blundell [1986] 1 NZLR 732 that the existence of the Accident Compensation Corporation did not bar the available of exemplary damages. Features ACC is the sole and compulsory provider of accident insurance for all work and non-work injuries

United States

Punitive damages are a settled principle of common law in the United States. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the [7] They are a matter of state law, and thus differ in application from state to state. In many states, including California and Texas, punitive damages are determined based on statute; elsewhere, they may be determined solely based on case law. California ( is a US state on the West Coast of the United States, along the Pacific Ocean. Texas ( is a state geographically located in the South Central United States and is also known as the Lone Star State. A statute is a formal written enactment of a Legislative authority that governs a Country, State, City, or County. Many state statutes are the result of insurance industry lobbying to impose "caps" on punitive damages; however, several state courts have struck down these statutory caps as unconstitutional. Insurance, in Law and Economics, is a form of Risk management primarily used to hedge against the Risk of a contingent loss Lobbying includes all attempts to influence Legislators and officials whether by other legislators constituents or organized groups [8]

Punitive damages are a focal point of the "tort reform" debate in the United States, where numerous highly-publicized multi-million dollar verdicts have led to a fairly common perception that punitive damage awards tend to be excessive. Tort reform refers to the idea of changing the rules applicable to the Law of Tort. However, statistical studies by law professors and the Department of Justice have found that punitive damages are only awarded in two percent of civil cases which go to trial, and that the median punitive damage award is between $38,000 and $50,000. [8]

In response to judges and juries which award high punitive damages verdicts, the Supreme Court of the United States has made several decisions which limit awards of punitive damages through the due process of law clauses of the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution. The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest judicial body in the United States and leads the federal judiciary. Due process (more fully due process of law) is the principle that a person has a right to receive notice and be heard in an orderly proceeding in order to protect his or her The Fifth Amendment ( Amendment V) of the United States Constitution, which is part of the Bill of Rights, is related to legal procedure The Fourteenth Amendment ( Amendment XIV) to the United States Constitution is one of the post- Civil War Reconstruction Amendments, first The Constitution of the United States of America is the supreme Law of the United States. In a number of cases, the Court has indicated that a 4:1 ratio between punitive and compensatory damages is broad enough to lead to a finding of constitutional impropriety, and that any ratio of 10:1 or higher is almost certainly unconstitutional.

In BMW of North America, Inc. v. Gore (1996), the Court ruled that punitive damages must be reasonable, as determined based on the degree of reprehensibility of the conduct, the ratio of punitive damages to compensatory damages, and any criminal or civil penalties applicable to the conduct. BMW of North America Inc v Gore, 517 US 559 (1996 was a United States Supreme Court case limiting Punitive damages under the Due In State Farm Auto. Ins. v. Campbell (2003), the Court held that punitive damages may only be based on the acts of the defendants which harmed the plaintiffs.

Most recently, in Philip Morris USA v. Williams (2007), the Court ruled that punitive damage awards cannot be imposed for the direct harm that the misconduct caused others, but may consider harm to others as a function of determining how reprehensible it was. Philip Morris USA v Williams, 549 US 346 ( 2007) was a decision by the Supreme Court of the United States, which held that the Due More reprehensible misconduct justifies a larger punitive damage award. Dissenting in the Williams case, Justice John Paul Stevens found that the "nuance eludes me," suggesting that the majority had resolved the case on a distinction that makes no difference. John Paul Stevens (born April 20, 1920) is currently the most senior Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.

Japan

Japanese courts do not award punitive damages as a matter of public policy, and Japanese law prohibits the enforcement of punitive damage awards obtained overseas. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Japan topics. [9]

See also

References

  1. ^ See Kemezy v. Non-economic damages caps are somewhat controversial Tort reforms to limit ( i Peters, 79 F. 3d 33 (7th Cir. 1996) (Posner, J. Richard Allen Posner (born January 11 1939 in New York City) is currently a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in Chicago )
  2. ^ See Courts outside U.S. wary of punitive damages, International Herald Tribune 2008-03-26
  3. ^ [1964] AC 1129, [1964] 1 All ER 367.
  4. ^ See Australian Consolidated Press Ltd v Uren (1967) 117 CLR 221, where the Privy Council upheld the Australian rejection of Rookes v Barnard
  5. ^ [2001] 1 AC 268
  6. ^ see, for example Experience Hendrix LLC v PPX Enterprises Inc [2003] EWCA Civ 323.
  7. ^ See Grimshaw v. Ford Motor Co. (Ford Pinto Case), 174 Cal. The Ford Pinto was a subcompact manufactured by the Ford Motor Company for the North American market first introduced on September 11, 1970 Rptr. 348 (Cal. Ct. App. 1981) (Tamura, J. ), subhead VI.
  8. ^ a b Douglas Laycock, Modern American Remedies (Aspen, 2002), p. 732-736.
  9. ^ General Act Related to the Application of Laws (法の適用に関する通則法) § 22(2) (2006) ("Should a tort be governed by the law of a foreign state, even if the facts to which the law of such foreign state apply constitute a violation of the laws of such foreign state and of the laws of Japan, the victim may not claim any compensation or other disposition other than that recognized under the laws of Japan. "). This was predated by the judgment of the Supreme Court of July 11, 1997, 51-6 Minshu 2573, and other precedents.
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