Are there punitive damages in a personal injury case in New York?

You hear all the time about large jury verdicts for punitive damages when circumstances were companies, corporations are doing things they really shouldn’t be doing. In New York, they’re very rare circumstances when people are entitled to punitive damages. What there is, though, there’s a punitive aspect the way that people get hurt.

Sometimes cases are worth more money in front of a jury because a person was driving under the influence of alcohol, driving under the influence of drugs. Those are the types of things that get juries upset, and when juries get upset, they’re more likely to punish the person that caused the accident. So what we look at when we’re determining whether to settle a case as opposed to take a case to trial is do we have the type of evidence where a jury is going to want to punish the person that caused the accident.

If you have been hurt due to the negligence of another person, call an experienced New York personal injury lawyer of Hach & Rose, LLP, at (212) 779-0057.