EXEMPLARY DAMAGES ARE AWARDED FOR THE PURPOSE OF PUNISHMENT

EXEMPLARY DAMAGES MUST BE PROVED BEFORE AWARDED

Our attention was drawn at the oral hearing to the case of Shugaba Abdulrahman Darman v. Minister of Internal Affairs (1981) 2 NCLR 459 where the court awarded exemplary damages. The distinction lies in the fact that in that case aggravated and exemplary damages were specifically claimed and pleaded. In the matter before us, there was no such claim made for exemplary damages. I think it will be wrong in the circumstance to award it, even though, on the facts, the case was made out for its award, had it been claimed; exemplary damages must be claimed and proved before they can be awarded.

– Ogundare, J.S.C. Odogu v. Federation (1996)

WHEN TO AWARD EXEMPLARY OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES

In Odiba v. Azege (1998) LPELR-4465 (SC), the Supreme Court opined on the purposes of damages and when to award exemplary or punitive damages: “…The primary object of an award of damages is to compensate the plaintiff for the harm done to him or a possible secondary object is to punish the defendant for his conduct in inflicting that harm. Such a secondary object can be achieved by awarding, in addition to the normal compensatory damages, damages which go by various names to wit: exemplary damages, punitive damages, vindictive damages, even retributory damages and comes into play whenever the defendant’s conduct is sufficiently outrageous to merit punishment as where it discloses malice, fraud, cruelty, insolence, flagrant disregard of the law and the like. [See 15, B-F] Exemplary damages, in particular, also known as punitive or vindictive damages can apply only where the conduct of the defendant merits punishment…But exemplary damages, to some extent, are distinct from aggravated damages whereby the motive and conduct of the defendant aggravating the injury to the plaintiff would be taken into consideration in the assessment of compensatory damages…Accordingly, aggravated damages in this type of case can do most, if not all of the work that could be done by exemplary damages…” [See 25-26, D-B]