Since Compensatory Damages Are Supposed to Fully Reimburse the Plaintiff

question 46

Essay

Since compensatory damages are supposed to fully reimburse the plaintiff for all losses suffered because of a tort or breach of contract, how can one justify the award of punitive damages?

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Definitions:

Lexical Decision Task

A task in which an experimental participant is presented with letter strings and asked to judge, as quickly as possible, whether the strings form words.

Schemata

Frameworks for organizing and representing knowledge that contain roles, variables, and fixed parts.

Prototype View

A theory in cognitive science that suggests people categorize objects and ideas by comparing them to an internal "best example" or prototype of a category.

Exemplar View

a theory in cognitive psychology suggesting that individuals categorize objects and ideas by comparing new experiences to specific examples stored in memory.