Usually, the plaintiff in a lawsuit is asking the court to make the defendant pay money to make up for the harm that the defendant caused. For example, the money that the plaintiff asks for might pay for the plaintiff's medical bills if he or she was hurt in an accident. Money that the court orders the defendant to pay is called damages. For some torts, especially ones done on purpose (intentional torts), the plaintiff might also ask the court to punish the defendant by making him or her pay extra money. That extra money is sometimes called "punitive damages".