Aggravated damages are damages awarded by the court to reflect and compensate the aggravated damage or exceptional harm done to a plaintiff of a tort action. They take into account intangible injuries and by definition will generally augment damages assessed under the general rules relating to the estimation of damages.
¶ Unlike Punitive damages, Aggravated damages are compensatory in nature and may only be awarded for that purpose. They are measured by the plaintiff's suffering.
¶ Such intangible elements that form the basis of "aggravation" include pain, anguish, grief, humiliation, damaged self-confidence or self-esteem, and so on, caused by the conduct of the defendant or which the defendant should reasonably have foreseen in his actions against the plaintiff.
¶ Aggravated damages are not a separate head of damages. Rather, they are an augmentation of general damages to compensate fan or aggravated injury.
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