More Than Just Negligence: How Punitive Damages Work in SC

Video Transcript

In a personal injury case, punitive damages are going to stem from something that the defendant did that is beyond mere negligence. So in a situation where the defendant is reckless or acts without care for human life, they might have punitive damages awarded against them. This is in situations like when people are driving drunk, or people are behaving in a way that is completely beyond what is reasonable — not a simple accident. In that case, the law allows the jury to award additional damages against a defendant beyond just those damages that they caused to the person who they injured, in order to deter them from taking that kind of behavior and taking those kinds of risks in the future.