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Terms Used In North Carolina General Statutes 1D-45

  • claimant: includes any party seeking recovery of punitive damages. See North Carolina General Statutes 1D-5
  • Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
  • Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
  • Defendant: means a party, including a counterdefendant, cross-defendant, or third-party defendant, from whom a claimant seeks relief with respect to punitive damages. See North Carolina General Statutes 1D-5
  • Punitive damages: means extracompensatory damages awarded for the purposes set forth in N. See North Carolina General Statutes 1D-5

The court shall award reasonable attorneys’ fees, resulting from the defense against the punitive damages claim, against a claimant who files a claim for punitive damages that the claimant knows or should have known to be frivolous or malicious.  The court shall award reasonable attorney fees against a defendant who asserts a defense in a punitive damages claim that the defendant knows or should have known to be frivolous or malicious. (1995, c. 514, s. 1.)