Treble damages

A recovery of three times the amount of actual financial losses suffered which is provided by statute for certain kinds of cases.

The statute authorizing treble damages directs the judge to multiply by three the amount of monetary damages awarded by the jury in those cases and to give judgment to the plaintiff in that tripled amount. The Clayton Act (15 U.S.C.A. § 12 et seq.), for example, directs that treble damages be awarded for violations of antitrust laws.

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treble damages n. tripling damages allowed by state statute in certain types of cases, such as not making good on a bad check or intentionally refusing to pay rent. Federal anti-trust violations also carry treble damage penalties. (See: damages)

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TREBLE DAMAGES, remedies. In actions arising ex contractu some statutes give treble damages; and these statutes have been liberally construed to mean actually treble damages; for example, if the jury give twenty dollars damages for a forcible entry the court will award forty dollars more, so as to make the total amount of damages sixty dollars. 4 B. & C. 154; McClell. Rep. 567.
     2. The construction on the words treble damages, is different from that which has been put on the words treble costs. (q.v.) Vide 6 S. & R. 288; 1 Browne, R. 9; 1 Cowen, R. 160, 175,176, 584; 8 Cowen, 115.