Also known as: nominal damage
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A trivial sum of money awarded to a litigant who has established a cause of action but has not established that he is entitled to compensatory damages.
Nikhil Narayan published a false written statement accusing Nyah Ndlovu of criminal conduct. Nyah proved the statement was defamatory per se but offered no evidence of actual reputational harm or pecuniary loss. The court awarded Nyah nominal damages to recognize the actionable wrong.
Noah Nakamura owned land subject to a recorded servitude restricting use to residential purposes. Nigel Nelson violated the servitude by operating a commercial storage facility. The court granted Noah nominal damages as one available remedy to vindicate the servitude right.
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Noreen Nguyen contracted with Nobel Dynamics for delivery of custom equipment by a fixed date. Nobel Dynamics breached by delivering late, yet Noreen resold the equipment at a profit and proved no net financial harm. The court awarded Noreen nominal damages to acknowledge the breach.
Nathaniel Newman proved that Northstar Logistics committed an intentional trespass on his property. Nathaniel showed no actual harm but sought punitive damages. The court awarded only nominal damages because punitive damages require separate outrageous conduct beyond the underlying wrong.
Nova Pharmaceuticals suspended an employee without a hearing required by company policy. The employee proved the procedural violation but could not show that a hearing would have changed the outcome. The court awarded nominal damages to recognize the constitutional breach.
Nightingale Healthcare published a false statement about a competitor's financial stability. The competitor established libel but presented no proof of actual reputational injury. The court awarded nominal damages to vindicate the legal right.
A plaintiff receives nominal damages when a cause of action is established but no actual loss is proved or the loss cannot be quantified with reasonable certainty. The award recognizes the violation of a legal right without providing compensation for harm.
Nominal damages alone do not support punitive damages. Punitive damages require separate proof of outrageous conduct and are distinct from both compensatory and nominal awards.
Yes. Every breach of an enforceable contract gives rise to a right to damages. When the breach produces no provable loss, the injured party still recovers nominal damages to vindicate the right.
Yes. An award of nominal damages redresses a past violation of a legal right even when the plaintiff cannot prove actual injury, satisfying the redressability element of standing.
…with any special damages such as pecuniary loss and emotional distress. At the very least, the rule allowed the recovery of nominal damages for any defamatory publication actionable per se and thus performed "a vindicatory function by enabling the plaintiff publicly to brand the defamatory publication as false. The…