Personal Injury Attorneys based in Virginia
VIRGINIA PUNITIVE DAMAGES CAP
AFFECTS PERSONAL INJURY LAWSUITS
Virginia
has an absolute cap on the amount of punitive damages that can be
awarded in a personal injury lawsuit. The statutory limit
is $350,000. So if a jury awards more than this amount in a personal
injury case where such damages are appropriate, the judge will reduce
the amount awarded to the statutory cap amount. Most interestingly,
the jury is not informed of the cap mount when they are considering
what amount of damages to award. Recently, a Shenandoah jury awarded
millions in punitive damages in a civil suit seeking damages from
a murderer. The jury's award was reduced to $350,000 and the jury
did not find out about the reduction until they read about it in the
newspaper the next day. I do not think that a an absolute cap is fair
to the injured party.
It does not consider the conduct that gives rise to the award of punitive
damages, nor does it factor in the ability of the defendant to pay
such an award. Since the purpose of punitive damages is to punish
and deter such conduct in the future, a cap limits the ability of
the court system to accomplish those goals. A fairer approach would
be to limit the damages in some proportion to the compensatory damages
award. Of course, a trial judge also has the power to reduce any damages
award and judges frequently exercise that power. Unfortunately, the
power to increase inadequate awards in Virginia personal injury
cases is rarely used.
You can collect for injuries. Call
the personal injury law firm of Wilson & Hajek.
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