Opinion ID: 2495846
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: P-44B (warning devices)

Text: ¶ 39. Instruction P-44B stated: The Court instructs the jury that the Defendants were negligent as a matter of law in failing to have warning devices available on the vehicle as required. If you find that this failure was the proximate cause or a proximate contributing cause of the accident, then it shall be your sworn duty to enter a verdict in favor of the Plaintiffs, and you shall assess damages in accordance with the remaining instructions. P-44B is improper because it was peremptory and would have held the defendants liable without allowing the jury to consider Stong 's reasonable-promptness standard. See Thomas, 667 So.2d at 597; Stong, 456 So.2d at 710. In other words, reasonable minds could have differed as to whether Byrd should have placed warning devices in the three-to-five minutes that his trailer was on the road. While Leah and Dewey were entitled to a properly drafted instruction per Stong, P-44B incorrectly stated the law, so the trial court properly refused it. Burr, 909 So.2d at 726.