JURY INSTRUCTIONS AND VERDICTS -
CIVIL AND CRIMINAL ACTIONS
(a) Filing. Unless the Court otherwise orders or permits, requested jury
instructions in all actions shall be filed and copies served on all parties at the opening of
the trial. Instructions thereafter presented may be deemed not to have been properly
requested unless (1) the necessity for the request arose in the course of trial and could
not reasonably have been anticipated before trial from the pleadings, discovery or nature
of the action and (2) the request is presented as promptly as possible. See Fed. R. Civ.
P. 51; Fed. R. Crim. P. 30.
(b) Form and Number.
(1) Electronic Filers. Two copies of the instructions shall be submitted.
One copy shall be electronically filed as a .pdf document and shall contain each
instruction on a separate page, numbered and identified as to the party presenting it.
Each instruction shall cite the decision, statute, ordinance, regulation, or other authority
supporting the proposition stated in the instruction. The second copy (jury copy) shall
comply with (b)(4) and shall be submitted by e-mail to the appropriate e-mail address as
listed on the Court’s website in Word format. See L.R. 137(b).
(2) Conventional Filers. Two (2) copies of the instructions shall be filed
on 8-1/2" x 11" paper. The first copy shall contain each instruction on a separate page,
numbered and identified as to the party presenting it. Each instruction shall cite the
decision, statute, ordinance, regulation, or other authority supporting the proposition
stated in the instruction. The second copy (jury copy) shall comply with (b)(4).
(3) Cover Sheet. The cover sheet on each set of instructions shall
contain the appropriate caption (title, Court and cause) and an identification of the party
presenting the instructions.
(4) Jury Copies. As the jury copy may be duplicated and given to the
jury, the individual instructions shall be unnumbered and unidentified as to the party
presenting them and shall contain no citation to the authority supporting the proposition
stated in the instruction.
(c) Content. Each requested instruction shall be (as far as possible) free of
legal jargon, understandable, concise, impartial, and free from argument. All requested
instructions on a single subject shall be grouped together when submitted to the Court.
All instructions intended as alternates shall be so designated.
(d) Standard Instructions. When the instructions are derived from the Ninth
Circuit Pattern Jury Instructions, California Jury Instructions-Civil (CACI), California Jury
Instructions-Civil (BAJI), California Jury Instructions-Criminal (CALJIC) or Federal Jury
Practice and Instructions (Civil and Criminal), or other source of standard instructions, the
source shall be from the latest edition provided. If a standard instruction is altered by
omissions, additions, or modifications by counsel (other than substitution of the parties'
names for "plaintiff" and "defendant"), the modification shall be specifically noted and
explained on the file copy.
(e) Verdict and Special Interrogatories. The jury instructions shall be
accompanied by a form or forms of verdict. Requests for special verdicts or
interrogatories to be answered in connection with a general verdict shall also accompany
the instructions.
(f) Conference - Objections. The Court will set a time for a conference with
counsel for the purpose of settling instructions. Unless the Court orders otherwise,
counsel shall be prepared at that time to object to any instructions and to support any
objection with citation to authority. Upon the settling of the instructions, and before
counsel's final argument to the jury, the Court will hold a hearing on the record and outside
the presence of the jury for the purpose of permitting counsel to voice any objections
concerning the instructions.
