Source: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-cand-3_03-cv-02502/USCOURTS-cand-3_03-cv-02502-0/pdf.json

Nature of Suit Code: 890
Nature of Suit: Other Statutory Actions
Cause of Action: 28:1332 Diversity-Insurance Contract

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United States District Court

For the Northern District of California

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IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

LIBERTY MUTUAL INSURANCE COMPANY, a

Massachusetts Corporation,

Plaintiff,

 v.

HENRY D. HOGE, an individual; DOÑA P.

HOGE, an individual; PATRICIA HOGE

LEWINE, an individual; MICHAEL D. LEWINE,

an individual; HENRY D. HOGE AND DOÑA P.

HOGE FAMILY TRUST, a trust; HOGE

PERSONAL RESIDENCE TRUST, a trust;

HENRY D. HOGE, a trustee; and DOÑA P. HOGE,

a trustee,

Defendants. /

No. C 03-02502 WHA

PRELIMINARY INSTRUCTIONS

TO BE GIVEN BY THE COURT

After careful consideration of the parties’ proposed instructions, the Court has decided

to give the following preliminary jury instructions. Any objections or requests for modification

must be raised during the final pretrial conference on SEPTEMBER 19, 2005 AT 2 P.M.

IT IS SO ORDERED.

Dated: September 15, 2005 WILLIAM ALSUP

UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE
United States District Court

For the Northern District of California

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PRELIMINARY JURY INSTRUCTIONS

Members of the jury: Now that you have been sworn in, I will give you some

preliminary instructions to guide you in your participation in the trial. At the end of the trial, I

will give you more detailed instructions. Those instructions will control your deliberations.

It will be your duty to find from the evidence what the facts are. No matter how much

the witnesses or opposing experts may disagree in this case, you and you alone will be the judge

of the facts. You will then have to apply to those facts the law as I will give to you. You must

follow that law whether you agree with it or not.

You should not take anything I may say or do during the trial as indicating what I think

of the evidence or what your verdict should be.

SUMMARY OF CONTENTIONS

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

the parties. In this case, plaintiff Liberty Mutual Insurance Company alleges that defendants

Henry and Doña Hoge fraudulently transferred their 40% interest in residential property located

at 691 Vista Court, Redwood City, CA to their daughter and son-in-law, defendants Patricia and

Michael Lewine. Plaintiff further seeks damages from the Lewines for diminishing the equity

in the property when they refinanced the home in June 2002. Defendants deny these claims.

EVIDENCE

Please remember that although both sides disagree on many facts in this case, it is your

job to determine what the facts are. The evidence from which you will find the facts will

consist of the sworn testimony of witnesses, documents and other things received into the

record as exhibits, and any facts that the lawyers agree to or stipulate to or that the Court may

instruct you to find.

Certain things are not evidence and must not be considered by you. I will list them for

you now:

1. Statements, arguments and questions by lawyers are not evidence.

2. Objections to questions are not evidence. Lawyers have an obligation to

their clients to make objections when they believe the evidence being offered is
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For the Northern District of California

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improper under the rules of evidence. You should not be influenced by the

objection or by the Court’s ruling on it. If the objection is sustained, you must

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

objection is overruled, treat the answer like any other. If you are instructed that

some item of evidence is received for a limited purpose only, you must consider

it only for that limited purpose and for no other. 

3. Testimony that the Court has excluded or told you to disregard is not

evidence and must not be considered. 

4. Anything you may have seen or heard outside the courtroom is not

evidence and must be disregarded. You are to decide the case solely on the

evidence presented here in the courtroom.

There are two kinds of evidence: direct and circumstantial. Direct evidence is direct

proof of a fact, such as testimony of an eyewitness. Circumstantial evidence is proof of facts

from which you may infer or conclude that other facts exist. I will give you further instructions

on these as well as other matters at the end of the case, but keep in mind that you may consider

both kinds of evidence. 

It will be up to you to decide which witnesses to believe, which witnesses not to believe,

and how much of any witness’s testimony to accept or reject. I will give you some guidelines for

determining the credibility of witnesses at the end of the case. 

BURDEN OF PROOF

Plaintiff has the burden of proving its claims by what is called the “preponderance of the

evidence.” That means you must be persuaded by the evidence that the claim is more probably

true than not true. To put it differently, if you were to put plaintiff’s and defendants’ evidence

on opposite sides of the scales, plaintiff would have to make the scales tip somewhat on its side. 

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

Those of you who have sat on criminal cases will have heard of proof “beyond a

reasonable doubt.” That requirement does not apply to a civil case; therefore, you should put it
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For the Northern District of California

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out of your mind. The standard of proof involved in this case is less demanding than the

standard used in criminal cases.

CONDUCT OF THE JURY

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

First, I instruct you that during the trial you are not to discuss the case with anyone or

permit anyone to discuss it with you. Until you retire to the jury room at the end of the case to

deliberate on your verdict, you simply are not to talk about this case. 

Second, do not read or listen to anything touching on this case in any way. If anyone

should try to talk to you about it, bring it to the Court’s attention promptly. 

Third, do not try to do any research on your own. Keep an open mind until you start your

deliberations at the end of the case. 

If you wish, you may take notes. But if you do, leave them in the jury room when you

leave at night. And remember that they are for your own personal use. 

As you hear the evidence, you may have questions about the facts of the case so you can

better understand the case. If so, write out your question on a form from the clerk and give it to

the clerk. Do this only on an individual basis without any consultation among the jury. Do not

show your note to anyone other than the clerk. 

I have found that sometimes jurors are surprised as to what is available and not available

to them during their deliberations, so I want to alert you to that now. At the end of the trial, you

will deliberate as a group in the jury room. You will have the following materials with you in

the jury room:

1. All of the exhibits received into evidence;

2. An index of the exhibits if the lawyers are able to stipulate as to its form; 

3. A work copy of the jury instructions I will read to you at the end of the

case for each of you. Those instructions will describe the law you are required to

apply in this case; 

4. A work copy of the verdict form for each of you; and

5. An official verdict form for the jury for the foreperson to fill in. 
United States District Court

For the Northern District of California

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Please note that any charts or summary exhibits used in the trial which are not entered

into evidence will not be in the jury room. Sometimes such charts are merely used to illustrate

the testimony of a witness. What counts is the testimony. The chart itself does not come into

evidence and will not be in the jury room. 

Additionally, there will not be a transcript of the trial testimony in the jury room with

you. So, please listen carefully and take notes as you feel best. 

We are going to do a few things in this case to streamline the trial and to make the

proceedings more comprehensible. First, time limits have been agreed to by both sides on the

evidence and witness time. I will keep tabs on the lawyers to keep them within these limits. 

Second, during the presentation of the evidence, the lawyers will be allowed brief opportunities

from time to time to explain what they believe the evidence has shown or what they believe

upcoming evidence will show. Such comments are not evidence and are being allowed solely

for the purpose of helping you understand the evidence. Of course, at the end of all the

evidence, the lawyers will also deliver their final summations.

ORGANIZATION OF THE TRIAL

The trial will now begin. First, each side will make an opening statement. An opening

statement is neither evidence nor argument; it is an outline of what that party intends to prove,

offered to help you follow the evidence. Next, plaintiff will present its witnesses and defendants

may cross-examine them. Then defendants will present their witnesses, and plaintiff may

cross-examine them. After the evidence has been presented, the lawyers will make their closing

arguments to summarize and interpret the evidence for you, and the Court will give you

instructions on the law. You will then retire to deliberate on your verdict.