When you’re involved in a Wichita Falls car wreck that caused you injuries and wasn’t your fault, you should be able to
recover compensation from the at-fault driver’s insurance company. Your compensation is awarded in the form of damages, which generally takes two forms: compensatory damages and punitive damages. While compensatory damages are meant to compensate you for your damages, punitive damages are meant to punish the party who caused the accident.
Punitive Damages in Wichita Falls Car Wrecks
As mentioned above, the whole point of punitive damages is to punish the party who caused the accident because their behavior was so reckless and egregious. One of the most prominent examples of punitive damages is the McDonald’s case where an elderly lady sued McDonalds after suffering severe burns when she spilled her McDonald’s coffee on herself. During the lawsuit, it was revealed that McDonald’s had hundreds of similar claims against it over the past decade and that it knew of the dangers of its unusually high coffee temperatures. Because of this knowledge, the failure to change its practices, and its disregard of the dangers it posed to its customers, McDonald’s was forced to pay the elderly lady a substantial amount of money in punitive damages.
Being awarded punitive damages is rare, but it is one method of deterring bad conduct, and given the right circumstances, it is certainly the type of damages that a victim of an accident could pursue. However, most people involved in Wichita Falls car wrecks will rely on compensatory damages rather than punitive damages to recover compensation for their injuries.
Contact a Wichita Falls Car Wreck Lawyer
If you or anyone you know has been injured in a car wreck in Wichita Falls, contact our Wichita Falls car wreck lawyer at 940-569-4000 or fill out our contact form to set up a free, confidential, no-obligation consultation. We will give you a free evaluation of your case and offer you helpful information for how to proceed.