Treble damages provisions appear in antitrust, RICO, false claims, and various consumer protection statutes. Some are mandatory upon liability while others are discretionary or require willfulness.
Attorney fees frequently accompany trebling.
Alternative Names:
Trebled Damages, Triple Damages
Why it Matters?
Mandatory trebling transforms case value, and the practical consequence is that defendants facing treble exposure settle claims they would otherwise try. Whether trebling requires willfulness or attaches automatically is the threshold question, since a willfulness requirement gives the defense a path to limiting exposure to actual damages. Fee shifting typically accompanies these statutes and compounds the exposure.
Frequently Confused with
Related terms
Frequently asked questions
Is trebling always mandatory?
What compounds the exposure?
