Oh, I understand punitive damages.
The way things normally work when one is the victim of a violent crime is that you press charges in criminal court.
Then you go to trial.
Then, whether you win or lose, you use the evidence presented in that trial in civil court to go after compensatory and punitive damages.
Then you bring that case to trial and you win that case, and the court awards you your damages.
And then there are the cases that were confected from the very beginning as settlement packages.
So if this is simply about money why did the LA Diocese settle?
Unless...