A Defendant may claim that he was not negligent and therefore is not liable to pay damages to the Plaintiff. A Defendant may also claim immunity from prosecution , meaning the law protects certain types of Defendants, such as a City Government, from being sued for certain acts. Injury or damages claimed relates the physical and emotional injuries which the Plaintiff and his doctors say were suffered. If there was no physical injury or death, the claim may be for financial damages such as the loss of a business or damage to property. The same can be said of future medical expenses.
Juries usually award compensatory damages to compensate for injury and loss.
Occasionally, when the actions of a Defendant have been particularly repugnant, a jury may also award punitive damages to punish the Defendant. This is actually quite rare, but the public thinks it happens all of the time because these are the cases that make it onto the front page of the daily newspaper. If the Judge refuses to meet any of these requests, the losing side may choose to appeal to a higher court, usually posting a bond to insure that, should it lose the appeal, it is able to pay the judgment plus interest on that judgment which accrues while the appeal is pending. In most cases, each side bears its own costs. These fee awards can be quite large, significantly increasing the total judgment .