Believe it or not, the amount you sue for must be based on something. To insurance adjusters, damages in an auto crash case are split into two categories: property (your car) and injury (your body). However, in law there are colors of damages available to a Plaintiff: Economic, Non-Economic, and Punitive. The first two are pretty clear as they are intended to pay for your medical bills, property damage, pain and suffering, and cover future treatments, etc. The latter color of damages is harder to understand.
Punitive Damages in 5 minutes or less. . .
What are they? They are damages intended to punish the other side for reckless/wonton behavior. Texting + Speeding = Wanton conduct in Alabama. So if you were hit by a driver who was texting and speeding, this pot of money may pertain to you. Alabama limits the recovery of punitive damages by statute to civil actions for wrongful death and tort actions in which there is clear and convincing evidence that the defendant consciously or deliberately engaged in: Oppression, fraud, wantonness, or malice. Punitive damages are not recoverable for breach of contract. Ala. Code § 6-5-410(a); Ala. Code § 6-11-20.
"But the insurance adjuster said they don't cover it." The Alabama Supreme Court has held, without discussing public policy concerns, that insurance coverage extends to punitive damages. Alabama remains without modern case law that addresses the public policy implications underlying the insurability of punitive damages. According to the Supreme Court of Alabama punitive damages were a “liability imposed by law, and, consequently, “within the coverage afforded by an automobile policy’s insuring agreement, which provided: “To indemnify the assured . . . against loss from the liability imposed by law upon the assured arising or resulting from claims upon the assured for damages by reason of the ownership, maintenance or use of any [automobile] . . . if such claims are made on account of injury to persons.” Am. Fid. & Cas Co. v Werfel, 164 So. 383, 383 (Ala. 1935); see also Sua Ins. Co. v. Classic Home Builders, LLC, 751 F. Supp. 2d 1245, 1253 (S.D. Ala. 2010).
What conduct is required to obtain said punitive damages? To recover punitive damages in a tort action other than for wrongful death, Ala. Code § 6-11-20 requires a plaintiff to prove by clear and convincing evidence that the defendant consciously or deliberately acted toward the plaintiff with:
• Oppression, which means subjecting a person to cruel and unjust hardship in conscious disregard of the person’s rights
• Fraud, which means intentional misrepresentation, deceit, or concealment of a material fact the defendant had a duty to disclose, which was gross, oppressive, or malicious, and committed with the intent to injure or deprive the plaintiff of property or legal rights
• Wantonness, which means conduct done with a reckless or conscious disregard of the rights or safety of others –or–
• Malice, which means intentionally doing a wrongful act without just cause or excuse, either: an intent to injure the person or property of another –or– under such circumstances that the law implies an evil intent The statute defines clear and convincing evidence as evidence that, when weighed against opposing evidence, provides a firm conviction as to each essential element of the claim and a high probability as to the correctness of the conclusion. Proof by clear and convincing evidence requires a level of proof greater than a preponderance of the evidence or the substantial weight of the evidence, but less than beyond a reasonable doubt.
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