Florida Statutes
Fla. Stat. § 768.725 (2025)
Punitive damages; burden of proof.
✓ 2025 Florida Statutes — current through the 2025 Regular Session
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768.725 Punitive damages; burden of proof.—In all civil actions, the plaintiff must establish at trial, by clear and convincing evidence, its entitlement to an award of punitive damages. The “greater weight of the evidence” burden of proof applies to a determination of the amount of damages.
Notes of Decisions
Cited in 16
cases (6 in the last 5 years), 2003–2025 · leading case: Sheila White, Plaintiff-Appellee/cross-Appellant v. Burlington N. & Santa Fe Ry. Co., Defendant-Appellant/cross-Appellee, 364 F.3d 789 (6th Cir. 2004).
Sheila White, Plaintiff-Appellee/cross-Appellant v. Burlington N. & Santa Fe Ry. Co., Defendant-Appellant/cross-Appellee, 364 F.3d 789 (6th Cir. 2004). “Florida Fla. Stat. Ann. § 768.725 (2004) (clear and convincing evidence).”
Morgan Stanley & Co. v. Coleman Holdings, 955 So. 2d 1124 (Fla. 4th DCA 2007). “[5] See § 768.725, Fla. Stat. (2005) ("In all civil actions, the plaintiff must establish at trial, by clear and convincing evidence, its entitlement to an award of punitive damages.”
Bailey v. St. Louis, 196 So. 3d 375 (Fla. 2d DCA 2016). “§ 768.725. When claims for punitive damages are made, the respective provinces of the court and jury .”
The Event Depot Corp. v. Robert Frank, 269 So. 3d 559 (Fla. 4th DCA 2019). “Relevant here, section 768.725 was enacted to “provid[e] for evidentiary standards for an award of punitive damages.”
Brown v. Johnson, 64 F. Supp. 3d 717 (E.D. Pa. 2014). “2010) (requiring only proof by a preponderance); compare Fla. Stat. Ann. § 768.725 (limiting recovery for punitive damages), and N.”
Pozzi Window Co. v. Auto-Owners Ins., 446 F.3d 1178 (11th Cir. 2006). “” Fla. Stat. § 768.725 (emphasis added). Florida courts have clarified that for punitive damages to be awarded, "the conduct of the insurer against the interests of the insured must be so egregious as to constitute an independent tort.”
M.B. Hayes, Inc. v. Tak Chin Choi (In Re M.B. Hayes, Inc.), 305 B.R. 361 (Bankr. M.D. Fla. 2003). “The Debtor’s conduct was not “outrageous.” Although the Debtor did not act in good faith in willfully exaggerating its construction lien, it was not without provocation by the Owner-Defendants.”
940 Ocean Drive, LLC v. Sobe USA, LLC (Fla. 3d DCA 2025). “Section 768.725, Florida Statutes (2024), governs the plaintiff’s burdens of proof in a punitive damages action: In all civil actions, the plaintiff must establish at trial, by clear and convincing evidence, its entitlement to an award of punitive damages.”
R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. v. Jennifer Rey (Fla. 3d DCA 2025). “§ 768.725, Fla. Stat. . . . Yet the Engle findings were made by an earlier jury under the greater-weight-of-the-evidence standard.”
Johns Hopkins All Child.'s Hosp., Inc. v. Kowalski, Kowalski (Fla. 2d DCA 2025). “" § 768.725, Fla. Stat. (2023). And "[a] defendant may be held liable for punitive damages only if the trier of fact, based on clear and convincing evidence, finds that the defendant was personally guilty of intentional misconduct or gross negligence.”
Pozzi Window Co. v. Auto-Owners Ins., 429 F. Supp. 2d 1311 (S.D. Fla. 2004). “Fla. Stat. § 768.725 . The jury in this case was instructed that punitive damages were warranted if you find by clear and convincing evidence that Auto-Owners was personally guilty of intentional misconduct or gross negligence.”
Bavelis v. Doukas (S.D. Ohio 2021). “Fla. Stat. § 768.725 . A trial court may award punitive damages in a bench trial, see, e.”
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