Nickerson Being Charged in Assault Case?

[www.hfboards.com]

It sure seems like it's him. Don't konw who else it could be.

It don't know if it is him, but it is a lawsuit not a charge.

There was a question on hfboards.com about why it's a civil not criminal case. The one doens't preclude the other. The criminal case is the government's case. The civil case is the victim's. Different standards apply in the trial and the civil case may have a greater chance of success. Think O.J.

A legal question: can you get punitive damages for a case like this? Or would the 3 million award purely be compensatory?
I'm curious because it seems wrong that you could be forced to pay what essentially a government imposed fine using civil rules for burden of proof for something which the government has the option of punishing through the criminal system. So I'm hoping that someone might be able to clarify.

Hey, it's summertime. So it's time for lots of random political/legal discussions on the forum!

Non-lawyer (but I took the law boards) answer: compensatory is for injuries suffered (out of work while injuries healed, value of lost right arm to a shot-putter, etcetera) and punitive damages punish the bad guy for bad conduct. The compensatory damages could be for a big amount if the damages appear to be long-lasting or persistent. Plus, the plaintiff can *ask* for any amount. If you hope to get 30 grand, why not ask for $300,000? Are you perhaps thinking of cases where the law allows damages to be double or tripled?

Some people argue a criminal case followed by a civil case is double jeopardy (hauled into court twice for the same incident). You can argue that more so when the government itself pursues criminal and then civil, or the feds and state try to nail you on overlapping criminal charges. Private civil suit on the heels of a government criminal suit, I don't that's considered double jeopardy.

[q]Plus, the plaintiff can *ask* for any amount. If you hope to get 30 grand, why not ask for $300,000?[/q]Well presumably you have to have some justification for the amount you seek. Not that a lawyer can't dress up a claim to take advantage of any and all grey areas.
[q] Are you perhaps thinking of cases where the law allows damages to be double or tripled?[/q]I was thinking about explicit punitive awards, which are often levied against corporations. You know, the kind that Arnold is trying to grab 75% of in California. I was wondering whether the generally law allows a plaintiff to seek punitive damages in a case like this (battery or at the extreme wrongful death).
I agree that cpursuing both a civil and a criminal case against someone for the same alleged action walks dangerously close to double jeopardy. It's not cut and dried. Maybe Nickerson did something that wasn't strictly speaking against the law but was responsible for injuries in which case he might conceivably be liable for damages but not criminal charges. The OJ type of situation (acquitted on the basis that he wasn't involved and then found liable) strikes me as more of a DJ concern (whether or not he should have been acquitted). You do have a point about private suit vs. gov't action though.

Of course, double jeopardy is a well accepted part of society these days, even if it is constitutionally prohibited. You just have to make your second attempt a civil rights charge and we forget that it's really the same crime that's being prosecuted. (Not that getting federal convictions of violent white supremacists wasn't good thing. It's just worrisome when you bend rules that should be rigid.)

As a very general matter, in the area of personal injury claims compensatory damages are awarded for what we normally consider to be the damages resulting from a personal injury (examples - loss of use of a limb, or loss of a bodily function, lost wages, medical expenses incurred and the always beloved "pain and suffering," etc.) due to negligence (non-intential acts or omissions to act), while punitive damages are awarded not to compensate for the injuries but to punish wrongful conduct such as intential acts, or acts of gross negligence.

While there are plenty of other situations where punitive damages might be awarded (anti-trust, defamation, etc.), in a situation as is being discussed - a law suit resulting from what sounds like an assault - punitive damages can be sought and awarded if the facts are egregious enough. By its nature it's hard to negligently assault someone - that's pretty much as intentional a tort as they get.