exemplary damages
- noun
- /ɪɡˈzɛmpləri ˈdæmɪdʒɪz/
- UK
:
daños punitivos
- After the jury found the company acted with malice, they decided to impose exemplary damages in addition to the actual costs.
Examples
-
Agree that author of SMTH shall in no event be liable for any direct, indirect, incidental, consequential or exemplary damages or injuries.
-
The court awarded the plaintiff $50,000 in exemplary damages to punish the defendant for their reckless behavior.
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The judge ruled that the victim was entitled to exemplary damages due to the defendant's intentional misconduct.
Synonyms
26
8.8
Money a court orders someone to pay that is more than payment for a loss to punish deliberate harmful acts
Money a court gives to punish someone for doing something wrong
How Punitive
- Formal
26
8.8
- UK
- Specialized
5
6.3
- Formal
Surface Forms
Morphology
The parts are partly compositional: 'exemplary' (intended to deter or to serve as an example) combined with 'damages' (financial compensation) yields the basic idea of compensation given as an example/punishment. However, the precise legal nuance—that these are punitive awards beyond actual loss—and the collision with the more common sense of 'exemplary' = 'excellent' make the full meaning not fully predictable to a B1 learner, so it is only partially transparent.
Etymology
The legal term exemplary damages comes from the idea of making an example of someone: the word exemplary is like the word 'example' and damages means money for harm. So it refers to extra money paid beyond the real loss 'to punish' the person who did wrong and 'to warn others'.