a particular kind, species, variety, class, or group, distinguished by a common character or nature: to develop a new sort of painting; nice people, of course, but not really our sort. 2. character, quality, or nature: young people of a nice sort.
Punitive damages are awarded, then, in egregious cases â not your run-of-the-mill, âoops I was twiddling the radio dial when I hit youâ cases. Punitive damages have been argued and permitted in DUI cases. However, according to the lawyers in the Caskey case, juries have never considered an award of punitive damages in a âTextingâ case. This is what is meant by the phrase âcase of first impression.â The other thing about punitive damages is that they are generally NOT covered by insurance. You buy insurance to protect you if you are ânegligentâ or careless.
Punitive damages are particularly prevalent in the USA where they are often left to the discretion of a group of citizens, a jury, who may impose them when they determine that a defendant's conduct has been uncivilized or to deter other from acting in such an underhanded way, to improve, generally, law and order, or simply to reward the plaintiff for his financial risks in litigating and enforcing the law.