Connecticut Judicial Branch Civil Jury Instructions

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Connecticut Judicial Branch Civil Jury Instructions

This collection of jury instructions was compiled by the Civil Jury Instruction Committee and is intended as a guide for judges and attorneys in constructing charges and requests to charge. The use of these instructions is entirely discretionary and their publication by the Judicial Branch is not a guarantee of their legal sufficiency.

COMMITTEE MEMBERS Hon. Susan Quinn Cobb, Chairperson Hon. John L. Cordani Hon. John B. Farley Hon. Matthew E. Frechette Hon. Kimberly A. Knox Hon. John D. Moore Hon. Cesar A. Noble Hon. Sheila A. Ozalis Hon. Andrew W. Roraback Hon. James Sicilian Hon. Barry K. Stevens Hon. Thomas J. Welch

Prepared by Judge Support Services, Superior Court Operations ? 1999-2022. Connecticut Judicial Branch. All rights reserved.

ABOUT THESE INSTRUCTIONS

This collection of jury instructions was compiled by the Civil Jury Instruction Committee and is intended as a guide for judges and attorneys in constructing charges and requests to charge. The use of these instructions is entirely discretionary and their publication by the Judicial Branch is not a guarantee of their legal sufficiency.

In addition to instructions covering the most commonly encountered civil issues, there is also a section for verdict forms.

Commentary Footnotes appear in the body of the instruction to reference case law discussing specific language. The Authority section cites to the primary authorities, including case law, statutes, and treatises, for the proposition(s) stated in the instructions. Some instructions have a Notes section, which provides practice tips for using and adapting the instructions.

Revisions The revision date indicates the date the Civil Jury Instructions Committee approved the adoption or substantive revision of an instruction. When a minor stylistic change or an update to the commentary is made, but the substantive body of the instruction remains the same, it will be indicated by a parenthetical date for modification. For example, "Revised to January 1, 2008 (modified June 15, 2008)" means that on June 15, 2008, the instruction or its commentary was modified in some minor way that did not affect the substance of the instruction.

Formatting Conventions

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Bold-faced titles and subheadings are included to make the instructions easier to read and

are not part of the instruction.

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Angle brackets and italicized text are used to enclose directives to follow in customizing

the charge. E.g., . Angle brackets are also used to refer

to other instructions that may contain some additional useful information. E.g.,

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Parentheses are used to indicate that a choice between words or phrases is

necessary. This is most commonly used for gender-specific pronouns, e.g.,

(he/she) or (his/her). It is also used when an instruction offers several terms, not

all of which may be applicable to the case. If the choices are lengthy, such that

stringing them together in a single parentheses would be cumbersome to read,

they are separated into a bulleted list. For example,

These damages may consist of

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direct damages (expectation, reliance),

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liquidated damages,

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consequential damages,

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incidental damages,

all of which I will explain in a moment.

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Square brackets are used to indicate that a portion of the instruction is optional. It will be

preceded by an italicized directive defining the circumstances under which the language

would be appropriate, unless it is clear from the language itself. For example,

[ For you to find for the plaintiff under this legal principle, you must first find that there was no written or oral contract expressed in words and no contract implied by conduct for . If you find that there was no contract for between the parties, you may consider whether the plaintiff is entitled to recover under promissory estoppel.]

Note that square brackets in commentary have their common meaning, i.e., the paraphrasing of small portions of quoted material.

RECENT CHANGES

January 18, 2022 New Instruction The following new instruction was approved by the committee:

2.1-5 Bias/Prejudice ? Conscious and Unconscious

Revised Instructions The following instructions were revised by the committee by moving them to different sections of the Civil Instructions:

2.1-4 Sympathy/Prejudice This charge was moved from Section 2.9-1 (General Instructions ? Deliberations) to Section 2.14 (General Instructions ? Opening). The text of the Sympathy/Prejudice charge is unchanged.

2.5-7 Exercise of Privilege against Self-Incrimination This charge was moved from Section 2.9-13 (General Instructions ? Deliberations) to Section 2.5-7 (General Instructions ? Witnesses). The text of the Exercise of Privilege against SelfIncrimination charge is unchanged.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Part 1: Preliminary and Trial Instructions Part 2: General Instructions Part 3: Torts Part 4: Contracts Part 5: Miscellaneous Actions Part 6: Verdict Forms ? Samples

Prepared by Judge Support Services, Superior Court Operations ? 1999-2022. Connecticut Judicial Branch. All rights reserved.

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In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

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