AMI 2214 Mitigation of Damages—Personal Injuries
Ark. Model Jury Instr., Civil AMI 2214
Arkansas Model Jury Instructions-Civil
December 2023 Update
Chapter 22. Damages
AMI 2214 Mitigation of Damages—Personal Injuries
If it becomes necessary for you to assess damages, then in fixing the amount of money which will reasonably and fairly compensate , you are to consider that an injured person must use ordinary care [to determine whether medical treatment is needed][and][to obtain medical treatment] [and] [to follow the instructions of (his)(her) physician], and that any damages resulting from a failure to use such care cannot be recovered.
NOTE ON USE
This instruction should be given only when there is evidence that an injured person failed to mitigate his damages.
It should immediately follow the last paragraph of the instruction setting forth the elements of damages which may be recoverable by the person to whom this instruction would apply.
COMMENT
The reasonableness of the plaintiff's conduct in selecting the best remedies or following the instructions of a physician is a jury issue. Texas & St. Louis Ry. v. Orr, 46 Ark. 182, 206–07 (1885). See also Burnett v. Seventh St. Produce Co., 185 Ark. 367, 369–70, 47 S.W.2d 38, 39 (1932). Once the plaintiff has used ordinary care in the selection of a physician, his damages cannot be “diminished by showing that more skillful [medical] treatment would have produced better results.” E.L. Bruce Co. v. Corbett, 188 Ark. 962, 967, 69 S.W.2d 270, 273 (1934).
Where a physician's suggested treatment was merely an option, it was not error to refuse to give this instruction. Coca–Cola Bottling Co. of Memphis, Tenn. v. Priddy, 328 Ark. 666, 671, 945 S.W.2d 355, 358 (1997).
© 2023 Arkansas Supreme Court Committee on Jury Instructions-Civil
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