It may seem counterintuitive, but reputation damages are "actual" damages. Yes, they are hard to prove, but the jury gets to take that into account. It could

It may seem counterintuitive, but reputation damages are "actual" damages. Yes, they are hard to prove, but the jury gets to take that into account. It could have picked almost any number ($1m, $10m, etc.) for reputation damages, but that would go in the "actual" damages line on the form. The "punitive" damages really are just to discourage future bad conduct. And it will be difficult to support the idea that it takes a $1m penalty to prevent future bad conduct worth $1.