Does the insurance company have to pay “punitive damages”?
Although you hear a lot about punitive damages on the news and in public reports, the truth is punitive damages are usually not paid in personal injury cases in Rio Rancho, Albuquerque, or in other cities in New Mexico. Punitive damages are different than most items of compensation in a New Mexico personal injury case. Most items of compensation are payments to you for your losses, such as payments for your medical expenses, your lost wages, and your pain and suffering. Under New Mexico law, punitive damages are extra payments that the at-fault person must pay as punishment for behavior that is unusually dangerous, reckless, immoral, or intentional. The amount of punitive damages depends on how bad the behavior was. So punitive damages are only paid in New Mexico personal injury cases when the defendant’s behavior was more than simply carelessness or negligence; the behavior must be highly reckless, immoral, or intentional to support an award of punitive damages in Rio Rancho, Albuquer
