What is a punitive damage claim in an insurance litigation case?

Punitive damage claims in an insurance litigation case are damages that are awarded to a plaintiff in order to punish the defendant, usually an insurance company, rather than to compensate the plaintiff for any harm that was suffered. These claims are typically only awarded in cases where the defendant has acted in a particularly egregious manner, such as acting with malice, gross negligence, or fraud. In the state of Florida, punitive damage claims are not awarded unless the defendant’s conduct was “so outrageous in character, and so extreme in degree, as to go beyond all possible bounds of decency, and to be regarded as atrocious, and utterly intolerable in a civilized community.” Because of this standard, punitive damage claims are not awarded in the majority of insurance litigation cases in Florida. If they are awarded, the amount of the damages can range from a few thousand dollars, to millions of dollars, depending on the circumstances of the case.

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What is a punitive damage claim in an insurance litigation case?

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