Where the defendant’s conduct is found to be intentional or willful or wanton or malicious, the courts may permit an award of punitive damages in addition to compensatory damages.
Punitive damages are intended to punish the defendant and to discourage the conduct of the type the defendant engaged in. For example, in the O.J. Simpson civil case, the jury awarded relatively modest compensatory damages, but awarded the Brown and Goldman families tens of millions of dollars in punitive damages against Simpson, because the jury found, in effect, that Simpson murdered Brown and Goldman.
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