Punitive damages: perception and reality

This article reports and discusses the results of an empirical study of punitive damages, which damages are awarded in order to punish and deter the defendant rather than to compensate the claimant for loss. We examined all electronically available cases in which punitive damages were sought that were decided in all parts of the UK (save for Scotland, which does not recognise punitive damage) by first instance courts in the first sixteen years of the twenty-first century. The study is the first of its kind to be conducted in the UK. In the morass of data, important evidence is uncovered regarding punitive damages. This evidence comports with certain widely-held views regarding punitive damages and casts doubt on others