Questions tagged [damages]
regarding the losses (and the calculation thereof) suffered by a victim of a tortious action or omission
170 questions
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Would a contract to pay a trillion dollars in damages be valid?
Let's say you write a contract with someone, and you want to make sure they don't breach it. You could just have them covenant certain things, but then they'd only be liable for whatever damages you ...
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Who pays for the damages caused by the government attempting to enforce a preempted or unconstitutional law?
Some laws are obviously contradicted by higher laws, such as bills of attainder being prohibited explicitly by the US constitution.
Say some level of government (state, federal, or local) ignores this ...
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How does Trump come up with the sizes of his lawsuits?
Last year, Donald Trump sued CBS over an issue with a 60 Minutes interview with Kamala Harris during the 2024 presidential election. He initially sued for $10 billion, and later increased that to $20 ...
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Does Bob have a case if he ends up paying child support due to Alice's deceit?
This question is inspired by and closely related to that one, but is different.
Alice deperately wants to conceive and give birth to a child from Bob, but Bob is adamant. He is very careful to avoid ...
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Can damages extend beyond bankruptcy?
"Billy Bob" decides that a chainsaw and a high-vis vest makes him a professional arborist, and goes into business (despite lacking any of the needed training, licensing, and insurance needed....
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Why don’t punitive damages require a criminal conviction beyond doubt?
Civil suits often include damages of a punitive nature with large amounts imposed on the balance of probabilities.
In criminal cases, fines can be imposed but require conviction beyond reasonable ...
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Is law enforcement responsible for damages made by a search warrant?
Why do police use a battering ram without first checking the doorknob on a low threat warrant? What if a small child was on the other side of the door and got seriously injured by the battering ram? ...
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Can defamation occur without specific intent for false statements about ordinarily non-damaging things?
I've recently argued for a while with a friend about whether defamation requires intent in cases where a false statement would normally be unforeseen to have any potential impact.
The specific ...
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Has anyone ever won a lawsuit against oneself?
The legal blog Lowering The Bar has a list of lawsuits where both the plaintiff and the defendant were the same person or legal entity.
Some of the examples are:
"Utah Court Says Woman Can Sue ...
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Compensation for custody awaiting trial resulting in acquittal?
I was accused of a crime and held in custody for 8 months then acquitted at court, I missed the first 8 months of my only child's life, and lost both my job and my partner. Could I be entitled to ...
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Does filling U.S. postal service business reply envelopes with junk incur any legal peril?
Some companies that send junk mail include a "business reply" envelope. This allows the junk mail recipient to send a "reply" through U.S. mail at the originator's expense.
In fact these business ...
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When acquitted in a "The People vs XYZ" trial, is XYZ entitled to any compensation for all they went through as an innocent party?
Say that Bob is put on trial for murder in some County. So the trial will be "The People vs Bob", and headed by the local government*. Bob spends weeks held in jail and spends tens of ...
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Is time spent on litigation recoverable as lost wages?
Generally, pro se non-attorney litigants cannot recover attorney fees under a statute providing for attorney fees.
Can a non-attorney recover for time spent on litigation (time preparing for trial, ...
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What non-liquid assets can't be seized for compensation?
Non-liquid assets like property can be legally seized when compensation is required (e.g. by a creditor or the IRS). But there are many other non-liquid assets one can have. A video game account (like ...
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What damages are recoverable for late delivery of a package?
Is the answer to this hypo correct?
A sends a package to C via the B Shipping Company. B charges $10 for the service and promises that the package “will absolutely, positively get there overnight.” ...
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