Damaged later in court battle (8)
I believe the answer is:
waterloo
'battle' is the definition.
(1815 battle)
'damaged later in court' is the wordplay.
'damaged' indicates anagramming the letters.
'in' indicates putting letters inside.
'court' becomes 'woo' (both can mean to romance someone).
'later' is an anagram of 'aterl'.
'aterl' placed within 'woo' is 'WATERLOO'.
(Other definitions for waterloo that I've seen before include "Losers may meet theirs" , "Battle - station" , "Historic battle" , "where trains come and go" , "Wellington's victory" .)