Source: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-cand-3_13-cv-04922/USCOURTS-cand-3_13-cv-04922-4/pdf.json

Nature of Suit Code: 110
Nature of Suit: Insurance
Cause of Action: 12:635 Breach of Insurance Contract

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United States District Court

Northern District of California

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

JEFFERY BROFFMAN, M.D.,

Plaintiff,

v.

PROVIDENT LIFE AND ACCIDENT 

INSURANCE COMPANY, et al.,

Defendants.

Case No. 13-cv-04922-JD 

PRELIMINARY JURY INSTRUCTIONS

The Court intends to read these preliminary instructions to the jury that is seated after voir 

dire on April 27, 2015. 

Any objections are due by noon (12:00 p.m.) on Friday, April 24, 2015.

IT IS SO ORDERED.

Dated: April 23, 2015

________________________

JAMES DONATO

United States District Judge

Case 3:13-cv-04922-JD Document 181 Filed 04/23/15 Page 1 of 18
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United States District Court

Northern District of California

INSTRUCTION NO. 1: DUTY OF JURY

Ladies and gentlemen: You are now the jury in this case. It is my duty to instruct you on the law. 

These instructions are preliminary instructions to help you understand the principles that apply to 

civil trials and to help you understand the evidence as you listen to it. At the end of the trial, I will 

give you a final set of instructions. It is the final set of instructions which will govern your 

deliberations.

You must not infer from these instructions or from anything I may say or do as indicating that I 

have an opinion regarding the evidence or what your verdict should be.

It is your duty to find the facts from all the evidence in the case. To those facts you will apply the 

law as I give it to you. You must follow the law as I give it to you whether you agree with it or 

not. And you must not be influenced by any personal likes or dislikes, opinions, prejudices, or 

sympathy. That means that you must decide the case solely on the evidence before you. You will 

recall that you took an oath to do so.

In following my instructions, you must follow all of them and not single out some and ignore 

others; they are all important.

Source

Ninth Circuit Model Civil Jury Instructions 1.1A.

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United States District Court

Northern District of California

INSTRUCTION NO. 2: CLAIMS AND DEFENSES

To help you follow the evidence, I will give you a brief summary of the positions of the parties: 

The plaintiff in this case claims that defendants improperly denied him benefits under a disability 

insurance policy. He claims that defendants’ denial breached the insurance policy, and that 

defendants handled his claims in violation of the obligation of good faith and fair dealing. 

Defendants claim that plaintiff was not entitled to the denied benefits, and they deny that their 

claim handling constituted a breach of their obligation of good faith and fair dealing. The plaintiff 

has the burden of proving both claims.

Source

Ninth Circuit Model Civil Jury Instruction 1.2.

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United States District Court

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INSTRUCTION NO. 3: WHAT IS EVIDENCE

The evidence you are to consider in deciding what the facts are consists of:

1. the sworn testimony of any witness;

2. the exhibits which are received into evidence; and

3. any facts to which the lawyers have agreed.

Source

Ninth Circuit Model Civil Jury Instruction 1.6.

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United States District Court

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INSTRUCTION NO. 4: WHAT IS NOT EVIDENCE

In reaching your verdict, you may consider only the testimony and exhibits received into evidence. 

Certain things are not evidence, and you may not consider them in deciding what the facts are. I 

will list them for you:

1. Arguments and statements by lawyers are not evidence. The lawyers are not witnesses. 

What they will say in their opening statements, closing arguments, and at other times is 

intended to help you interpret the evidence. But these arguments and statements are not 

evidence. If the facts as you remember them differ from the way the lawyers have stated 

them, your memory of them controls.

2. Questions and objections by lawyers are not evidence. Attorneys have a duty to their 

clients to object when they believe a question is improper under the rules of evidence. You 

should not be influenced by the objection or by the court’s ruling on it.

3. Testimony that has been excluded or stricken, or that you have been instructed to 

disregard, is not evidence and must not be considered. In addition, sometimes testimony 

and exhibits are received only for a limited purpose; when I give a limiting instruction, you 

must follow it.

4. Anything you may have seen or heard when the court was not in session is not evidence. 

You are to decide the case solely on the evidence received at the trial.

Source

Ninth Circuit Model Civil Jury Instruction 1.7.

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United States District Court

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INSTRUCTION NO. 5: DIRECT AND CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE

Evidence may be direct or circumstantial. Direct evidence is direct proof of a fact, such as 

testimony by a witness about what that witness personally saw or heard or did. Circumstantial 

evidence is proof of one or more facts from which you could find another fact. You should 

consider both kinds of evidence. The law makes no distinction between the weight to be given to 

either direct or circumstantial evidence. It is for you to decide how much weight to give to any 

evidence.

Source

Ninth Circuit Model Civil Jury Instruction 1.9.

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United States District Court

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INSTRUCTION NO. 6: CREDIBILITY OF WITNESSES

In deciding the facts in this case, you may have to decide which testimony to believe and which 

testimony not to believe. You may believe everything a witness says, or part of it, or none of it. 

Proof of a fact does not necessarily depend on the number of witnesses who testify about it.

In considering the testimony of any witness, you may take into account:

1. the opportunity and ability of the witness to see or hear or know the things testified to;

2. the witness’s memory;

3. the witness’s manner while testifying;

4. the witness’s interest in the outcome of the case and any bias or prejudice;

5. whether other evidence contradicted the witness’s testimony;

6. the reasonableness of the witness’s testimony in light of all the evidence; and

7. any other factors that bear on believability.

The weight of the evidence as to a fact does not necessarily depend on the number of witnesses 

who testify about it.

Source

Ninth Circuit Model Civil Jury Instruction 1.11.

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United States District Court

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INSTRUCTION NO. 7: EXPERT OPINION

Some witnesses, because of education or experience, are permitted to state opinions and the 

reasons for those opinions.

Opinion testimony should be judged just like any other testimony. You may accept it or reject it, 

and give it as much weight as you think it deserves, considering the witness’s education and 

experience, the reasons given for the opinion, and all the other evidence in the case.

Source

Ninth Circuit Model Civil Jury Instruction 2.11.

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United States District Court

Northern District of California

INSTRUCTION NO. 8: IMPEACHMENT EVIDENCE - WITNESSES

The evidence that a witness lied under oath or gave different testimony on a prior occasion may be 

considered, along with all other evidence, in deciding whether or not to believe the witness and 

how much weight to give to the testimony of the witness and for no other purpose.

Source

Ninth Circuit Model Civil Jury Instruction 2.8.

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United States District Court

Northern District of California

INSTRUCTION NO. 9: QUESTIONS TO WITNESSES BY JURORS

You will be allowed to ask questions to witnesses after the lawyers have completed their 

questioning of each witness. You may ask questions in order to clarify the testimony, but you are 

not to express any opinion about the testimony or argue with a witness. If you propose any 

questions, remember that your role is that of a neutral fact finder, not an advocate.

Before I excuse each witness, I will offer you the opportunity to raise your hand and ask a 

question. If I decide the question should not be answered I will instruct the witness not to answer 

the question.

There are some questions that I will not permit to be answered, or will rephrase from the wording 

you use. This might happen either due to the rules of evidence or other legal reasons, or because 

the question is expected to be answered later in the case. If I do not have the witness answer your 

question, or if I rephrase it, do not speculate as to the reasons. Do not give undue weight to 

questions you or other jurors propose. You should evaluate the answers to those questions in the 

same manner you evaluate all of the other evidence.

By giving you the opportunity to ask questions, I am not requesting or suggesting that you do so. 

It will often be the case that a lawyer has not asked a question because it is legally objectionable or 

because a later witness may be addressing that subject.

Source

Ninth Circuit Model Civil Jury Instruction 1.15.

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United States District Court

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INSTRUCTION NO. 10: DEPOSITION IN LIEU OF LIVE TESTIMONY

A deposition is the sworn testimony of a witness taken before trial. The witness is placed under 

oath to tell the truth and lawyers for each party may ask questions. The questions and answers are 

recorded. 

You should consider deposition testimony, presented to you in court in lieu of live testimony, 

insofar as possible, in the same way as if the witness had been present to testify.

Do not place any significance on the behavior or tone of voice of any person reading the questions 

or answers.

Source

Ninth Circuit Model Civil Jury Instruction 2.4.

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United States District Court

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INSTRUCTION NO. 11: STIPULATION OF FACT

The parties have agreed to the following facts. You should therefore treat these facts as having 

been proved. 

1. On June 2, 1989, Provident Life and Accident Insurance Company issued Dr. Broffman 

disability insurance policy # 6-335-5008698. The policy had an effective date of July 1, 

1989.

2. The amount of current total disability benefits under the policy is $9,760.00 per month.

3. On February 16, 2011, plaintiff underwent surgery on spinal discs in his lower back known 

technically as an L3-4 far lateral microdiscectomy.

4. Plaintiff’s policy was in effect when he submitted his disability claim on March 29, 2011. 

He was 59 years old at the time he submitted his claim.

5. All insurance claim handling activities in conjunction with Dr. Broffman’s disability claim 

were conducted by employees of Unum Group, the parent company of Provident Accident 

and Life Insurance Company.

6. At the time his disability arose, Dr. Broffman worked for Sutter Medical Group of the 

Redwoods as an otolaryngologist, a medical specialty dealing with disorders of the ears, 

nose, head, neck and throat.

7. Unum paid plaintiff monthly disability benefits from May 13, 2011 through November 30, 

2011.

8. On August 8, 2012, Unum concluded that plaintiff was not entitled to additional disability 

benefits.

9. In a letter dated November 12, 2012, plaintiff wrote to Unum to request that his claim be 

reopened.

10. On November 20, 2012, Plaintiff tendered his resignation to his employer.

11. On May 17, 2013, Unum concluded that Plaintiff was not entitled to additional disability 

benefits. 

Source

Ninth Circuit Model Civil Jury Instruction 1.3.

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United States District Court

Northern District of California

INSTRUCTION NO. 12: BURDEN OF PROOF - PREPONDERANCE OF THE 

EVIDENCE

When a party has the burden of proof on any claim by a preponderance of the evidence, it means 

you must be persuaded by the evidence that the claim is more probably true than not true. 

You should base your decision on all of the evidence, regardless of which party presented it. 

Source

Ninth Circuit Model Civil Jury Instruction 1.3.

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United States District Court

Northern District of California

INSTRUCTION NO. 13: CONDUCT OF THE JURY

I will now say a few words about your conduct as jurors.

First, keep an open mind throughout the trial, and do not decide what the verdict should be until 

you and your fellow jurors have completed your deliberations at the end of the case. 

Second, because you must decide this case based only on the evidence received in the case and on 

my instructions as to the law that applies, you must not be exposed to any other information about 

the case or to the issues it involves during the course of your jury duty. Thus, until the end of the 

case or unless I tell you otherwise:

Do not communicate with anyone in any way and do not let anyone else communicate with 

you in any way about the merits of the case or anything to do with it. This includes 

discussing the case in person, in writing, by phone or electronic means, via e-mail, text 

messaging, or any Internet chat room, blog, Web site or other feature. This applies to 

communicating with your fellow jurors until I give you the case for deliberation, and it 

applies to communicating with everyone else including your family members, your 

employer, the media or press, and the people involved in the trial, although you may notify 

your family and your employer that you have been seated as a juror in the case. But, if you 

are asked or approached in any way about your jury service or anything about this case, 

you must respond that you have been ordered not to discuss the matter and report the 

contact to the court. 

Because you will receive all the evidence and legal instruction you properly may consider 

to return a verdict: do not read, watch, or listen to any news or media accounts or 

commentary about the case or anything to do with it; do not do any research, such as 

consulting dictionaries, searching the Internet or using other reference materials; and do 

not make any investigation or in any other way try to learn about the case on your own. 

The law requires these restrictions to ensure the parties have a fair trial based on the same 

evidence that each party has had an opportunity to address. A juror who violates these restrictions 

jeopardizes the fairness of these proceedings. If any juror is exposed to any outside information, 

please notify the court immediately.

Source

Ninth Circuit Model Civil Jury Instruction 1.12.

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United States District Court

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INSTRUCTION NO. 14: NO TRANSCRIPT AVAILABLE/TAKING NOTES

During deliberations, you will have to make your decision based on what you recall of the 

evidence. You will not have a transcript of the trial. I urge you to pay close attention to the 

testimony as it is given.

If at any time you cannot hear or see the testimony, evidence, questions or arguments, let me know 

so that I can correct the problem.

If you wish, you may take notes to help you remember the evidence. If you do take notes, please 

keep them to yourself until you and your fellow jurors go to the jury room to decide the case. Do 

not let note-taking distract you. When you leave, your notes should be left in the jury room. No 

one will read your notes. They will be destroyed at the conclusion of the case.

Whether or not you take notes, you should rely on your own memory of the evidence. Notes are 

only to assist your memory. You should not be overly influenced by your notes or those of your 

fellow jurors.

Source

Ninth Circuit Model Civil Jury Instructions 1.13 and 1.14.

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United States District Court

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INSTRUCTION NO. 15: RULING ON OBJECTIONS

There are rules of evidence that control what can be received into evidence. When a lawyer asks a 

question or offers an exhibit into evidence and a lawyer on the other side thinks that it is not 

permitted by the rules of evidence, that lawyer may object. If I overrule the objection, the 

question may be answered or the exhibit received. If I sustain the objection, the question cannot 

be answered, and the exhibit cannot be received. Whenever I sustain an objection to a question, 

you must ignore the question and must not guess what the answer might have been.

Sometimes I may order that evidence be stricken from the record and that you disregard or ignore 

the evidence. That means that when you are deciding the case, you must not consider the evidence 

that I told you to disregard.

Source

Ninth Circuit Model Civil Jury Instruction 1.10.

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INSTRUCTION NO. 16: OUTLINE OF TRIAL

Trials proceed in the following way: First, each side may make an opening statement. An 

opening statement is not evidence. It is simply an outline to help you understand what that party 

expects the evidence will show. A party is not required to make an opening statement.

The plaintiff will then present evidence, and counsel for the defendant may cross-examine. Then 

the defendant may present evidence, and counsel for the plaintiff may cross-examine.

After the evidence has been presented, I will instruct you on the law that applies to the case and 

the attorneys will make closing arguments.

After that, you will go to the jury room to deliberate on your verdict.

Source

Ninth Circuit Model Civil Jury Instruction 1.9. 

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United States District Court

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INSTRUCTION NO. 17: CAUTIONARY INSTRUCTION - FIRST RECESS

We are about to take our first break. Remember, until the trial is over, do not discuss this case 

with anyone, including your fellow jurors, members of your family, people involved in the trial, or 

anyone else, and do not allow others to discuss the case with you. This includes discussing the 

case in Internet chat rooms or through Internet blogs, Internet bulletin boards, emails or text 

messaging. If anyone tries to communicate with you about the case, please let me know about it 

immediately. Do not read, watch, or listen to any news reports or other accounts about the trial or 

anyone associated with it, including any online information. Do not do any research, such as 

consulting dictionaries, searching the Internet or using other reference materials, and do not make 

any investigation about the case on your own. Finally, keep an open mind until all the evidence 

has been presented and you have heard the arguments of counsel, my instructions on the law, and 

the views of your fellow jurors.

If you need to speak with me about anything, simply give a signed note to my courtroom deputy, 

Ms. Clark, to give to me.

Source

Ninth Circuit Model Criminal Jury Instruction 2.1.

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