3d Cir. Model Jury Instr. (Civil) 6.4.2

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Last updated March 2026

to comply with the law: 30

31

But even if you make a finding that there has been an act of discrimination with malice or 32

reckless disregard of [plaintiff’s] federal rights, you cannot award punitive damages if [defendant-33

employer] proves by a preponderance of the evidence that it made a good-faith attempt to comply 34

with the law, by adopting policies and procedures designed to prevent unlawful discrimination 35

such as that suffered by [plaintiff].] 36

An award of punitive damages is discretionary; that is, if you find that the legal 37

requirements for punitive damages are satisfied [and that [employer-defendant] has not proved that 38

it made a good -faith attempt to comply with the law] then you may decide to award punitive 39

damages, or you may decide not to award them. I will now discuss some considerations that should 40

guide your exercise of this discretion. 41

If you have found the elements permitting punitive damages, as discussed in this 42

instruction, then you should consider the purposes of punitive damages. The purposes of punitive 43

damages are to punish a defendant for a malicious or reckless disregard of federal rights, or to 44

deter a defendant and others like the defendant from doing similar things in the future, or both. 45

Thus, you may consider whether to award punitive damages to punish [defendant(s)]. You should 46

also consider whether actual damages standing alone are sufficient to deter or prevent 47

[defendant(s)] from again performing any wrongful acts that may have been performed. Finally, 48

you should consider whether an award of punitive damages in this case is likely to deter others 49

from performing wrongful acts similar to those [defendant(s)] may have committed. 50

If you decide to award punitive damages, then you should also consider the purposes of 51

punitive damages in deciding the amount of punitive damages to award. That is, in deciding the 52

amount of punitive damages, you should consider the degree to which [defendant(s)] should be 53

punished for the wrongful conduct at issue in this case, and the degree to which an award of one 54

sum or another will deter [defendant(s)] or others from committing similar wrongful acts in the 55

future. 56

[The extent to which a particular amount of money will adequately punish a defendant, and 57

the extent to which a particular amount will adequately deter or prevent future misconduct, may 58

depend upon a defendant ’s financial resources. Therefore, if you find that punitive damages 59

should be awarded against [defendant(s)], you may consider the financial resources of 60

[defendant(s)] in fixing the amount of those damages.] 61