Florida Standard Jury Instructions for use in Civil Cases
Following closing arguments, the judge will instruct the jury as to the law of the case, informing the jurors that they are the final deciders of the facts, liability, and damages. The judge will further instruct the jury as to the various elements of the case that may be considered in arriving at a dollar amount of damages for the plaintiff if the defendant is found liable. This process is known as delivering jury instructions or charging the jury.
Besides informing the jury of the law, the proposal of an objection to jury instructions also preserves legal issues for appeal. Many jury instructions, particularly in common types of cases, are compiled in standard references and have been tested and approved by prior appellate challenges. While an instruction may accurately state the law, the content and manner of its delivery can often baffle jurors.
Besides the attorney’s own preparation for trial, trial preparation includes preparation of the witnesses, exhibits, jury instructions, trial motions, and anything else that can be prepared in advance.
The links below contain the standard jury instructions prepared by the Florida Standard Jury Instructions Committee and approved for publication by the Florida Supreme Court in all civil cases. The instructions are provided in PDF and DOC format.
Because it is impossible to cover every circumstance or issue with standard instructions, these instructions include only those that have been approved for the types of cases, primarily torts, that occur with enough frequency to have warranted their preparation.
Standard Jury Instructions in Civil Cases (PDF)
Standard Jury Instructions in Civil Cases (DOC)
Jury instructions courtesy of jury.flcourts.org.