Extra Money
This is Mike Ashworth and this is part of our continuing series of the 12 most frequently asked questions I get as a personal injury lawyer. This is question five. As a matter of fact, I researched this very question today on a case that I’m looking at.
Can I get extra money for punishment if someone’s actions were really bad in Oklahoma? The answer is yes. We have a statute in Oklahoma that is specially dedicated to what are called punitive damages. Sometimes they’re called extraordinary damages.
Basically when you’re at home and watching TV and you hear about these huge lawsuits, most of us know about the McDonald’s lawsuits, the hot coffee cases, the girl that recently had the chicken nugget that burned her badly after the pickup line or drive-thru. Sometimes damages, paying you for your actual damages and costs and things to you is not enough.
Tiers of Punitive Damages in Oklahoma
Sometimes the conduct may be willful, malicious, or so grossly negligent that public policy requires a lesson to be taught. And in certain types of cases, the lesson can be a loud one. In Oklahoma, there are three tiers, T-I-E-R-S, of punitive damages.
Tier 1 is up to $100,000 or the amount of the award of damages that is given. Number 2 is what is more egregious and intentional and the amount of damages can be up to $500,000 or double whatever the jury verdict is for actual damages. In the third instance, it’s when the conduct is so reckless and malicious that it creates a life-threatening harm or death potential. Not that it happened, but the potential or possibility of it, in which case it’s called no cap. There is no limit.
The Seriousness of Punitive Damages
So in many of the cases where you hear these huge verdicts, those are no cap cases. Punitive damages are very, very serious matters and one of the reasons that they’re a powerful, powerful weapon in the appropriate cases, and I mean the appropriate cases, because insurance companies generally are not obligated to pay punitive damages, which means whatever the verdict is, the liability coverage and insurance normally will pay only for the actual damages rendered. Punitive damages go directly against the individual defendant.
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I’m Mike Ashworth. Make law easy. See me at TulsaPersonalInjuryLawyer.pro, 918-924-5528.
