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.
In general, the amount of punitive damages cannot exceed four times the amount of compensatory damages that are awarded to a plaintiff. For instance, if a plaintiff is awarded $50,000 in compensatory damages, the court would not typically award him more than $200,000 in punitive damages, unless special circumstances existed.