Opinion ID: 1913445
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 9

Heading: Definition of Negligence

Text: In its final challenge to the instructions, defendant denounces the district court's failure to define the word negligence, arguing that such failure deprived the jury of the ability to correctly judge defendant's conduct. But the word negligence appears nowhere in the instructions or verdict forms, and, therefore, its definition was not left for the jury's own interpretation; rather, the issue becomes whether the instructions given regarding defendant's standard of care correctly stated the law. See, Cassio v. Creighton University, 233 Neb. 160, 446 N.W.2d 704 (1989); Zeeb v. Delicious Foods, 231 Neb. 358, 436 N.W.2d 190 (1989). As noted in part III(3)(a) above, the district court advised the jury that it was plaintiff's burden to prove, among other things, that defendant had failed to use reasonable care to protect her from the condition described elsewhere in the instruction. That was an acceptable means of informing the jury that in order for plaintiff to recover, it was necessary that she prove that defendant had breached its described duty by having failed to exercise the requisite degree of care toward her. The difficulty is that nowhere in its instructions did the district court define reasonable care as being that degree of caution which an ordinary, or reasonably prudent, person would exercise under like circumstances. See Black v. C., B. & Q.R. Co., 30 Neb. 197, 46 N.W. 428 (1890). As a consequence, the instructions erroneously and prejudicially failed to limit the jury's consideration to the degree of caution a reasonably prudent contractor would have exercised in like circumstances. It is true that defendant did not ask the district court to define reasonable care, but the concept is closely related to defendant's request that the district court define negligence. In any event, while ordinarily the failure to object to instructions after they have been submitted for review will preclude raising an objection thereafter, a trial judge is nonetheless under a duty to correctly instruct on the law without any request to do so, and an appellate court may take cognizance of plain error and thus set aside a verdict because of a plainly erroneous instruction to which no previous objection was made. See, Katskee v. Nevada Bob's Golf of Neb., 238 Neb. 654, 472 N.W.2d 372 (1991); Keller v. Noble, 229 Neb. 542, 428 N.W.2d 170 (1988); First West Side Bank v. Hiddleston, 225 Neb. 563, 407 N.W.2d 170 (1987). The situation here is not unlike that presented in Enyeart v. Swartz, 213 Neb. 732, 331 N.W.2d 513 (1983), appeal after remand 218 Neb. 425, 355 N.W.2d 786 (1984), wherein we held that the failure to define proximate cause constituted plain error requiring a new trial.