KRS 411.010: Action for assault -- Battery -- Provocation as a defense or in mitigation of

punitive damages.

In any civil action for damages inflicted by an assault or by an assault and battery, the

defendant may plead as a defense to the claim for punitive damage s, and introduce in

evidence in mitigation of punitive damages, any matter of provocation that preceded the

assault or battery, if the provocation prompted the assault or battery and was of a nature

to cause a person of ordinary prudence and judgment to ta ke the action taken by the

defendant.