Home Table of Contents

WPI 1.01.03 Advance Oral Instruction—Preliminary Instruction on Claims and Defenses

6 WAPRAC WPI 1.01.03Washington Practice Series TMWashington Pattern Jury Instructions--Civil

6 Wash. Prac., Wash. Pattern Jury Instr. Civ. WPI 1.01.03 (7th ed.)
Washington Practice Series TM
Washington Pattern Jury Instructions--Civil
April 2022 Update
Washington State Supreme Court Committee on Jury Instructions
Part I. General Instructions
Chapter 1. Introductory and General
WPI 1.01.03 Advance Oral Instruction—Preliminary Instruction on Claims and Defenses
I will now describe for you the basic elements of the claims and defenses that the parties intend to prove in this case. I am doing so for only one purpose: to help you evaluate the evidence as it is being presented.
Please remember that the claims and defenses might change during the course of a trial. For this reason, this instruction is preliminary only. It may differ from the final instructions you receive at the end of the trial. Your deliberations will be guided entirely by those final instructions.
The plaintiff claims:
(Insert here the elements of the expected claims in the case. Appropriate additional instructions, such as on the burden of proof, may also be included here. Legal terms used in these elements or instructions may also be defined here, as appropriate.)
The defendant [claims] [denies]:
(Insert here the additional elements of any affirmative defenses, crossclaims, and counterclaims in the case. Appropriate instructions, such as on the burden of proof, may also be included here. Legal terms used in these elements or instructions may also be defined here, as appropriate.)
NOTE ON USE
The judge may use this instruction to help jurors understand the significance of the evidence being presented during the course of the trial. The instruction may be used after, or incorporated into, WPI 1.01 (Advance Oral Instruction—Beginning of Proceedings). See the Comment below.
COMMENT
Background. Under this preliminary instruction, the judge specifies the elements of the claims, affirmative defenses, crossclaims, and counterclaims. Other appropriate instructions may be included and key legal terms may be defined. Because of the confusion that would be caused if the preliminary instruction were to be contradicted in a final instruction, this instruction should be used only when the law is well-settled.
This instruction was drafted in response to a recommendation from the Washington State Jury Commission. Washington State Jury Commission's Report to the Board for Judicial Administration, Recommendation 27 (July 2000) (for text, see Appendix G in this volume). The Jury Commission's report refers to studies showing that “pre-instructing” jurors as to the applicable legal principles increases their ability to focus on and remember the relevant evidence and improves their adherence to the judge's instructions. Jury Commission's Report, Recommendation 27 (accompanying narrative section).
Judicial discretion. The Jury Commission's recommendation is not binding on trial judges. Accordingly, judges may exercise discretion in deciding whether and how to preliminarily instruct jurors on the elements of expected claims and defenses.
[Current as of September 2018.]
End of Document