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If you’ve been injured due to the fault of another, you may be wondering whether it’s worth pursuing your claim – is the hassle of litigation worth the potential financial recovery?

Personal injury plaintiffs often hold on to incorrect assumptions regarding their lawsuit and the potential damages they may be entitled to.  In part, the media is to blame.  Americans are consistently exposed to news coverage of personal injury cases in which the plaintiff wins a large, multimillion dollar damage award.  The reality, however, is that many of these notorious cases involve the application of punitive damages, which is not normally available in a standard personal injury case.

So, what damages is a personal injury plaintiff entitled to in most cases?  In Florida, injury claimants typically assert both economic and non-economic damages.

Economic damages consist of financial damages sustained by the plaintiff as a result of the injury.

For example, if a plaintiff injures their spine in a motor vehicle accident, he or she may be unable to work for a year.  They would therefore assert economic damages based on their lost wages for the year, their medical treatment expenses, and other direct financial losses.

Non-economic damages consist of damages suffered by the plaintiff that are not directly or easily accounted for financially.  Generally, non-economic damages claims are based on the accumulated physical, psychological, and social suffering of the plaintiff following the accident at-issue.

Let’s imagine the same plaintiff and the same scenario as the previous example – the injured spine from the motor vehicle accident.  The plaintiff is not only entitled to assert a claim for various economic damages, but is also entitled to assert a claim for certain non-economic damages.  Specifically, the plaintiff may argue that he or she is entitled to damages for the pain and suffering they went through following the accident.  This claim can be significant, as pain and suffering in some cases follows the plaintiff for many years.

Punitive damages, on the other hand, are applied in much more limited circumstances, and are based on quite different principles.

What Are Punitive Damages?

To get a clearer understanding of whether punitive damages are applicable to your case, it’s important to understand the fundamental legal intentions behind punitive damages.

Punitive damages – unlike economic and non-economic damages – are not intended to compensate a plaintiff for their losses.  Standard economic and non-economic damages are actually meant to restore the plaintiff to their original position, to the degree that the law is capable of.  These damages are meant to provide a plaintiff with some means of recovery for their total injuries and suffering.

Punitive damages, by contrast, are intended to punish defendants for particularly negative actions.  The focus of punitive damages is not on the plaintiff, but rather on the defendant, and on all potential defendants.  Essentially, the application of punitive damages theoretically discourages future violators.

Because punitive damages are punishment-oriented, the potential damages are significant, sometimes leading to multimillion dollar cases.  Punitive damages multiply the total economic and noneconomic damages (typically 3-7 times the amount).

For example, suppose that you are injured by a defendant in a drunk driving accident.  Your total economic and noneconomic damages are only $50,000.  The court decides to apply punitive damages, however.  You may be entitled to between $150,000 and $350,000 in punitive damages, on top of your baseline $50,000 damages.

Accessing Punitive Damages in Florida

In Florida, punitive damages are available in very limited personal injury circumstances.  As a plaintiff, you must demonstrate that the defendant’s conduct was beyond mere negligence.  The defendant must have acted with negative intent, or they must have conducted themselves in a display of gross negligence.

Intentional misconduct is rather difficult to prove, as it can be difficult to separate from gross negligence or reckless conduct.  It generally involves the defendant knowing that their conduct is wrong, and that they are exposing others to a heightened risk of injury, but ignoring those risks.

Gross negligence is quite similar.  In Florida, a defendant has acted with gross negligence (more than mere negligence) if they conducted themselves in a manner that was reckless and ignorant of the heightened risk of injury they posed to others.  The recklessness of the defendant must be so great that it demonstrates the defendant’s “conscious disregard for the life, safety, and rights of others.”  Drunk driving defendants in Florida are often held to have acted with gross negligence.

If you have been injured in an accident and believe that the defendant may have acted with gross negligence or intentional misconduct, you may be entitled to punitive damages.  Contact Randall Spivey and the knowledgeable Fort Myers personal injury lawyers at the Spivey Law Firm, Personal Injury Attorneys, P.A. to discuss your legal options.