Title: In Re: Standard Jury Instructions in Civil Cases and Standard Jury Instructions in Contract and Business Cases - Joint Report No. 18-01

State: florida

Issuer: Florida Supreme Court

Document:

Supreme Court of Florida 
 
 
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No. SC18-1672 
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IN RE:  STANDARD JURY INSTRUCTIONS IN CIVIL CASES AND 
STANDARD JURY INSTRUCTIONS IN CONTRACT AND BUSINESS 
CASES—JOINT REPORT NO. 18-01. 
 
December 20, 2018 
 
PER CURIAM. 
 
The Supreme Court Committee on Standard Jury Instructions in Civil Cases 
and the Supreme Court Committee on Standard Jury Instructions in Contract and 
Business Cases (Committees) have submitted proposed new standard jury 
instructions and ask that the Court authorize the standard instructions for 
publication and use.  We have jurisdiction.  See art. V, § 2(a), Fla. Const. 
 
The Committees propose the following new instructions pertaining to 
Fiduciary Duty under section 451 of the respective standard jury instructions in 
civil cases and in contract and business cases:  451.1 (Introduction); 451.2 
(Summary of Claims or Contentions); 451.3 (Greater Weight of the Evidence); 
451.4 (Existence of Fiduciary Duty Disputed); 451.5 (Breach of Fiduciary Duty); 
451.6 (Legal Cause); 451.7 (Preemptive Charges); 451.8 (Preliminary Issue -  
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Vicarious Liability); 451.9 (Burden of Proof on Preliminary Issues); 451.10 (Issues 
on Main Claim); 451.11 (Burden of Proof on Main Claim); 451.12 (Defense 
Issues); and 451.13 (Burden of Proof on Defense Issues).  The full set of numbered 
instructions was published in the January 1, 2018, issue of The Florida Bar News.  
No comments were received.   
Having considered the Committees’ joint report, the new jury instructions, 
as set forth in the appendix to this opinion, are hereby authorized for publication 
and use.  New language is indicated by underlining.  In authorizing the publication 
and use of these instructions, we express no opinion on their correctness and 
remind all interested parties that this authorization forecloses neither requesting 
additional or alternative instructions nor contesting the legal correctness of the 
instructions.  We further caution all interested parties that any Notes on Use or 
Sources and Authorities associated with the instructions reflect only the opinion of 
the respective Committees and are not necessarily indicative of the views of this 
Court as to their correctness or applicability.  The instructions as set forth in the 
appendix shall be effective when this opinion becomes final. 
It is so ordered. 
CANADY, C.J., and PARIENTE, LEWIS, QUINCE, POLSTON, LABARGA, 
and LAWSON, JJ., concur. 
 
ANY MOTION FOR REHEARING OR CLARIFICATION MUST BE FILED 
ON OR BEFORE DECEMBER 27, 2018.  A RESPONSE TO THE MOTION 
FOR REHEARING/CLARIFICATION MAY BE FILED ON OR BEFORE 
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JANUARY 2, 2019.  NOT FINAL UNTIL THIS TIME PERIOD EXPIRES TO 
FILE A REHEARING/CLARIFICATION MOTION AND, IF FILED, 
DETERMINED. 
 
Original Proceeding – Supreme Court Committee on Standard Jury Instructions — 
Civil Cases and Contract and Business Cases 
  
Honorable Paul Lee Huey, Chair, Supreme Court Committee on Standard Jury  
Instructions in Contract and Business Cases, Tampa, Florida; Laura K. Whitmore, 
Chair, Tampa, Florida, Jeffrey Alan Cohen, Vice Chair and Subcommittee Chair, 
Miami, Florida, and Honorable Stephanie W. Ray, Member, Supreme Court 
Committee on Standard Jury Instructions in Civil Cases, Tallahassee, Florida; and 
Joshua E. Doyle, Executive Director, Mikalla Andies Davis and Heather Savage 
Telfer, Bar Liaisons, The Florida Bar, Tallahassee, Florida, 
 
for Petitioner 
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APPENDIX 
 
 
 
SECTION 451 — FIDUCIARY DUTY 
 
 
 
451.1 Introduction 
451.2 Summary of Claims or Contentions 
451.3 Greater Weight of the Evidence 
451.4 Existence of Fiduciary Duty Disputed 
451.5 Breach of Fiduciary Duty  
451.6 Legal Cause 
451.7 Preemptive Charges 
451.8 Preliminary Issue — Vicarious Liability 
451.9 Burden of Proof on Preliminary Issues 
451.10 Issues on Main Claim 
451.11 Burden of Proof on Main Claim 
451.12 Defense Issues 
451.13 Burden of Proof on Defense Issues 
 
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451.1  INTRODUCTION 
Members of the jury, you have now heard and received all of the 
evidence in this case. I am now going to tell you about the rules of law that you 
must use in reaching your verdict. [You will recall at the beginning of the case 
I told you that if, at the end of the case I decided that different law applies, I 
would tell you so. These instructions are (slightly) different from what I gave 
you at the beginning and it is these rules of law that you must now follow.]  
When I finish telling you about the rules of law, the attorneys will present 
their final arguments and you will then retire to decide your verdict.