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IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF COUNTY, MISSISSIPPI PLAINTIFF VS. CAUSE NO. DEFENDANT S ---------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------- STATE OF MISSISSIPPI ---------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ JURY INSTRUCTIONS ------------------------------ IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF COUNTY, MISSISSIPPI PLAINTIFF VS. CAUSE NO. DEFENDANT S PROPOSED JURY INSTRUCTIONS FOR PLAINTIFF COMES NOW, , by and through counsel, and submits the attached jury instructions on behalf of the Plaintiff in the above styled cause. This the day of , 20 . Respectfully submitted, BY:__________________________ COUNSEL FOR PLAINTIFF IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF COUNTY, MISSISSIPPI PLAINTIFF VS. CAUSE NO. DEFENDANT S INSTRUCTION NO. The Court instructs the jury that the verdict of the jury must represent the considered judgment of each juror. It is your duty as jurors to consult with one another and to deliberate in view of reaching agreement if you can do so without violence to your individual judgment. Each of you must decide the case for yourself, but only after an impartial consideration of the evidence with your fellow jurors. In the course of your deliberations, do not hesitate to re-examine you own views and change your opinion, if you are convinced it is erroneous, but do not surrender your honest convictions as to the weight or effect of the evidence solely because of the opinion of your fellow jurors or for the mere purpose of returning a verdict. IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF COUNTY, MISSISSIPPI PLAINTIFF VS. CAUSE NO. DEFENDANT S INSTRUCTION NO. The phrase "preponderance of the evidence" means that evidence which is most consistent with the truth as measured by the experience and judgment of the jury; that which accords best with reason and probability. It does not depend upon the number of witnesses. It does depend upon the weight and credibility that you as jurors give to the witnesses. It is that evidence which, after examination, has a greater persuasive and convincing power. That evidence which, when considered and compared with that opposed to it, has more convincing force and produces in your minds belief that what is sought to be proved is more likely true than not true. IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF COUNTY, MISSISSIPPI PLAINTIFF VS. CAUSE NO. DEFENDANT S INSTRUCTION NO. The Court instructs the jury that the rules of evidence provide that if technical, or other specialized knowledge might assist the jury in understanding the evidence or in determining a fact in issue, a witness qualified as an expert, by knowledge, skill, experience, training, or education, may testify and state his opinion concerning such matters. You should consider each expert opinion received in evidence in this case and give it such weight as you may think it deserves. If you should decide that the opinion of an expert witness in not based upon sufficient education and experience, or if you should conclude that the reasons given in support of the opinion are not sound, or that the opinion is outweighed by other evidence, then you may disregard the opinion entirely. IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF COUNTY, MISSISSIPPI PLAINTIFF VS. CAUSE NO. DEFENDANT S INSTRUCTION NO. The Court instructs the jury that a contract existed between Plaintiff and Defendants as a result of Plaintiff's acceptance of Defendants' offer to sell the house for $ . Plaintiff seeks to recover from Defendants based upon a claim for breach of contract. Under the terms of the contract, Plaintiff became obligated to pay the purchase price for the property and obligated to remove the house from the premises within a period of time, while Defendants became obligated to surrender possession of the house and obligated to allow Plaintiff to remove the house from the property within a period of time. The Court instructs you that if you find from the preponderance of evidence in this case that Defendants failed or refused to allow Plaintiff to remove the house from the premises, by reason of the fact that Defendants destroyed said house before it could be removed by Plaintiff without providing Plaintiff with notice of their intentions, then you must find that Defendants breached the contract and your verdict should be in favor of Plaintiff. IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF COUNTY, MISSISSIPPI PLAINTIFF VS. CAUSE NO. DEFENDANT S INSTRUCTION NO. You are instructed to find for the Plaintiff, and against the Defendants, and , on the issue of breach of contract, and to assess the actual damages you believe from a preponderance of the evidence that were suffered by as a result of said breach. IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF COUNTY, MISSISSIPPI PLAINTIFF VS. CAUSE NO. DEFENDANT S INSTRUCTION NO. You are instructed that the defendants have the burden of establishing all of the necessary elements of their affirmative defenses by a preponderance of the evidence. IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF COUNTY, MISSISSIPPI PLAINTIFF VS. CAUSE NO. DEFENDANT S INSTRUCTION NO. It is not necessary that all of you agree upon a verdict on this case. When any ( ) or more of your members have agreed upon a verdict, it may be returned to the court as the verdict of the entire jury. IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF COUNTY, MISSISSIPPI PLAINTIFF VS. CAUSE NO. DEFENDANT S INSTRUCTION NO. The Court instructs the jury that if you determine by a preponderance of the evidence that a contract existed between Plaintiff and Defendants, you must then determine whether Defendants have performed their promises and obligations under their oral contract with Plaintiff. If you find from a preponderance of the evidence that the Defendants have failed or refused to perform their promises and obligations under the contract, then the Defendants breached the contract, and you must return a verdict for the Plaintiff. If you find that the Defendants breached the contract, and if you find from a preponderance of the evidence that the Plaintiff suffered damages as a result of the Defendants' breach of contract, then it will be your duty to restore the Plaintiff to the financial position he would have been in had the Defendants not breached the contract, by awarding the Plaintiff the sum of money as will compensate him for the damages he suffered as a result of the defendants' breach. "Damages" is a word which expresses in dollars and cents the injury or loss sustained by a Plaintiff. Actual damages are awarded for the purpose of making the Plaintiff whole again in so far as a money verdict can accomplish that purpose. In determining the actual damages, you may take into consideration the following amounts which you find from a preponderance of the evidence that the Plaintiff is owed as a result of the Defendants' breach and which would place the Plaintiff in as good a position as he would have been had the breach not occurred:(1) the purchase price of the residence; (2) the actual value of the residence prior to its destruction; and (3) the net lost profit Plaintiff would have made had he been allowed to complete the contract. AUTHORITY FOR INSTRUCTION P- IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF COUNTY, MISSISSIPPI PLAINTIFF VS. CAUSE NO. DEFENDANT S INSTRUCTION NO. The Court has previously instructed you that if you determine that a contract existed between the Plaintiff and Defendants and that if you further determine by a preponderance of the evidence that Defendants failed or refused to perform their promises and obligations under their oral contract with Plaintiff, then Defendants breached the contract, and you must return a verdict for Plaintiff. If you further find by a preponderance of the evidence that the Defendants' breach was gross and willful or the breach was attended by intentional wrong, insult, abuse or such gross negligence as amounts to an independent tort, then Plaintiff is entitled to punitive damages over and above an award of actual damages. The primary purpose in imposing punitive damages is to punish one engaged in grossly negligent conduct and to serve as a warning to such person and others to refrain from engaging in similar conduct in the future. The amount of any punitive award is in the sole discretion of the trier of fact. In punitive damage cases, attorneys' fees can be awarded as a part of the punitive damages. AUTHORITY FOR INSTRUCTION P-9 Grisham v. Hinton, 490 So.2d 1201 (Miss. 1986) IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF COUNTY, MISSISSIPPI PLAINTIFF VS. CAUSE NO. DEFENDANT S COURT INSTRUCTION NO. Members of the Jury, you have heard all of the testimony and received the evidence and will shortly hear arguments of counsel. The Court will presently instruct you as to the rules of law which you will use and apply to this evidence in reaching your verdict. When you took your places in the jury box, you made an oath that you would follow and apply these rules of law to the evidence in reaching your verdict in this case. It’s, therefore, your duty as jurors to follow the laws which I shall now state to you. You are not to be concerned with the wisdom of any rule of law. Regardless of any opinion you may have as to what the law ought to be, it would be a violation of your sworn duty to base your verdict upon any other view of the law than that given in these instructions by the Court. You are not to single out one instruction alone as stating the law, but you must consider the instructions as a whole. It is your exclusive province to determine the facts in this case and to consider and weigh the evidence for that purpose. The authority thus vested in you is not an arbitrary power, but must be exercised with sincere judgment, sound discretion and in accordance with the rules of law stated to you by the Court. Both the Plaintiff and the Defendant have a right to expect that you will conscientiously consider and weigh the evidence and apply the law of the case. It is your duty to determine the facts and to determine them from the evidence produced in open Court. You are to apply the law to the facts, and in this way decide the case. You should not be influence by bias, sympathy or prejudice. Your verdict should be based on the evidence and not upon speculation, guesswork or conjecture. You are required and expected to use your good common sense and sound honest judgment in considering and weighing the testimony of each witness who has testified in this case. The evidence which you are to consider consists of the testimony and statements of the witnesses and the exhibits offered and received. You are also permitted to draw such reasonable inferences from the evidence as seem justified in the light of your experience. Arguments, statements and remarks of counsel are intended to help you understand the evidence and apply the law, but are not evidence. If any argument, statement or remark has no basis in the evidence, then you should disregard that argument, statement or remark. The production of evidence in Court is governed by rules of law. From time to time during the trial, it has been my duty as Judge to rule on the admissibility of evidence. You must not concern yourselves with the reasons for the Court's ruling since they are controlled and governed by rules of law. You should not infer from any ruling by the Court on these motions or objections to the evidence that the Court has any opinion on the merits favoring one side or the other. You should not speculate as to possible answers to questions which the Court did not require to be answered. Further, you should not draw any inference from the content of these questions. You are to disregard all evidence which was excluded by the Court from consideration during the course of the trial. If in stating the law to you I repeat any rule, direction or idea, or if I state the same in varying ways, no emphasis is intended and you must not draw any inference therefrom. The order in which these instructions are given has no significance as to their relative importance. IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF COUNTY, MISSISSIPPI PLAINTIFF VS. CAUSE NO. DEFENDANT S COURT INSTRUCTION NO. A witness may be discredited or "impeached" by contradictory evidence, by showing that he testified falsely concerning a material matter, or by evidence that at some other time the witness has said or done something, or has failed to say or do something, which is inconsistent with the witness's present testimony. If you believe that any witness has been so impeached, then it is your exclusive providence to give the testimony of that witness such credibility or weight, if any, as you may think it deserves. IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF COUNTY, MISSISSIPPI PLAINTIFF VS. CAUSE NO. DEFENDANT S COURT INSTRUCTION NO. As the sole judge of the facts on this case, your exclusive providence is to determine what weight and credibility will be assigned to the testimony and supporting evidence of each witness of this case. You are required and expected to use your good common sense and sound honest judgment in considering and weighing the testimony of each witness who has testified in this case. The evidence which you are considered consists of the testimony and statements of the witnesses and exhibits offered and received. You are permitted to draw such reasonable inference from the evidence as seems justified in light of your own experience. Arguments, statements, and remarks of counsel are intended to help you understand the evidence and apply the law, but are not evidence. If any argument, statement or remark, has no basis in the evidence, then you should disregard that argument, statement or remark.