Punitive damages are very difficult to get from a judge or jury. The conduct must be reckless, wanton, or willful and must disregard the rights of others. The conduct must be very different from the acts of a reasonable person faced with the same circumstances.

Gilpin & Keefe has been successful in getting juries to award punitive damages in several cases. The cases involved sexual harassment of a woman working at a temporary employment agency, a truck driver proceeding into a dust storm at a high rate of speed, and cases involving driving while intoxicated. In addition, many settlements have been reached in similar cases or in insurance bad faith cases that were clearly influenced by the willful actions of defendants.

The abuse of power by large insurance companies has created a claim of Insurance Bad Faith. The insurance contract requires the insurance company to act in good faith when handling claims. Because the insurance companies have not always made honest efforts to pay what is owed to the insureds, the State of New Mexico has enacted the Insurance Trade Practices and Frauds Act to protect consumers. Insurance companies cannot:

• Lie about coverage and claims;
• Unreasonably delay investigation and payment of claims.
• Fail to pay catastrophic claims within ?? days;
• Misrepresent the coverage being sold;
• Make insureds file the same claim several times;
• Other acts deemed dishonest or intended to trick insureds.

If you think your claim has been improperly handled in bad faith, contact our office or another attorney.

DWI accidents are too common in New Mexico, and cause many injuries and death.  The DWI drivers put everyone in New Mexico at risk, and understand the risks to the public.  They still drive while intoxicated.  When a person is injured by a DWI driver, the person is allowed to ask for punitive damages.

The factors considered by a judge or jury to award punitive damages against a DWI driver are:
alcohol level of the driver, if the driver was sentenced to jail, the number of previous arrests or convictions for DWI, whether the driver lost his license, drove on a suspended license, goes into rehabilitation, stops drinking, the extent of injury, whether the injured person has family affected by the injuries or death, actions of the DWI driver after the arrest including attempts to pay for medical bills for the injured person.