Local Rule 163: JURY INSTRUCTIONS AND VERDICTS – CIVIL AND CRIMINAL ACTIONS

RULE 163 (Fed. R. Civ. P. 51)

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.