![\"Bearers](\"https:\/\/pdxinjurylaw.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/wrongful-deaths.jpg\")
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Da\u00f1os punitivos<\/strong> may be recovered in some wrongful death cases. Punitive damages are widely misunderstood, largely due to the McDonalds coffee case. Many people are under the false impression that punitive damages are a road to riches.<\/p>\n Punitive damages are difficult to prove. You are not allowed to even ask for them until after you show a judge that you have good reason to. Then you have to prove it at a very high level of proof called \u201cclear and convincing\u201d proof. And even if you win and the jury awards punitive damages, the insurance company will often appeal the punitive damages, and the U.S. Supreme Court has gotten more and more hostile to high punitive damages awards, so if the award is quite high, it will often be reduced on appeal.<\/p>\n As if that weren\u2019t bad enough, in Oregon the State takes 70% of any punitive damages award. Your lawyer will then take 20% as a fee (less than the normal fee of 33% to 40%), leaving the beneficiaries with only 10%. That 10% is then taxable, so the final amount in the pocket of the beneficiary may be as little as 5% and will never be more than 10%.<\/p>\n Despite all of this, it is still usually a good strategy to plead punitive damages when they are appropriate, for a few reasons:<\/p>\n All of this can be quite confusing. The law says exactly what can be recovered, but then many of the terms turn out to be undefined. \u201cEconomic\u201d and \u201cnon-economic\u201d damages must be differentiated because of the $500,000 cap. Punitive damages are difficult to get, often appealed, and heavily taxed. But pursuing them can still be a good idea at times. We hope that this chapter has been some help to you in understanding this complicated area.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\n