WPI 23.01 Admitted Liability or Directed Verdict—Issues and Burden of Proof
6 WAPRAC WPI 23.01Washington Practice Series TMWashington Pattern Jury Instructions--Civil
6 Wash. Prac., Wash. Pattern Jury Instr. Civ. WPI 23.01 (7th ed.)
Washington Practice Series TM
Washington Pattern Jury Instructions--Civil
April 2022 Update
Part III. Issues—Burden of Proof
Chapter 23. Admitted Liability
WPI 23.01 Admitted Liability or Directed Verdict—Issues and Burden of Proof
You do not need to decide whether the defendant was negligent. The defendant's negligence has already been established. You are to decide what [injuries] [damages] [, if any,] to plaintiff were proximately caused by the defendant's negligence and what amount [, if any,] plaintiff should recover. The plaintiff has the burden of proof on these issues.
NOTE ON USE
Use this instruction to set forth the issues and burden of proof in a case in which there is no issue of contributory negligence and liability is either admitted or directed. Also use WPI 21.01 (Meaning of Burden of Proof—Preponderance of the Evidence), and one of the proximate cause instructions from WPI Chapter 15. Use bracketed material as applicable.
The pattern instruction is drafted for the most common scenarios. It will need to be modified in cases that involve a type of fault other than negligence and in cases for which admitted or directed liability applies to the contributory negligence claim, not the original negligence claim.
In some cases, the first paragraph may need to be modified to specify the particular acts that have been established as constituting negligence.
See WPI Chapter 45 (Forms of Verdicts) for the appropriate verdict form.
[Current as of September 2018.]
Westlaw. © 2022 Thomson Reuters. No Claim to Orig. U.S. Govt. Works.
| End of Document |