Punitive Damages

Of coarse!@

Uh, no.

Actually punitive damages can occur either via the court or a jury. In Insider Trading cases, the penalty is treble damages. Not exactly punitives but definitely not compensatory.

The $$ is awarded to the plaintiff who may dispose of it as desired. Whether that's to save the children or fly to Aruba is the plaintiff's business and not the court's. The court does not have control over this $$ and cannot direct the expenditure (or saving, or destruction, or making it into origami cranes if the plaintiff so desires) thereof.

I was under the impression that punitive damages went to the state. A quick search indicates that Utah statutes do apportion the first $50,000 to the Plaintiff and then splits the remainder between the Plaintiff and the State. Further, the State is given certain rights cor collection as a debtor for their portion. I have no inclination to search other state laws but seem to remember from my paralegal training that in NC punitive damages go to the State. That may have changed over the past 20 years.

How the State chooses to spend any punitive damages received would have to be spelled out in Statutes, not decided by individual courts within the state I would think.

Does Federal Court ever order punitive damages? Was the tobacco / RJ Reynolds case an example of this with part of the court decision ordering that they had to do $XXXXX in educating and advertising about the harm of tobacco?

You may be right on punitives going to the state (I answered early in the day, sorry). I know Fed. Ct. can award punitives.