Opinion ID: 2321640
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Jury Instruction on Appellants' Theory of Liability

Text: Finally, we turn to appellants' claim that the trial court erred by rejecting a jury instruction proposed by appellants. Appellants assert that [t]he fact that another entity may also be liable to plaintiff for the injury sustained is no defense, and that the jury should have been instructed accordingly. However, neither the record nor appellants' brief makes clear what specific proposed instruction the trial court rejected, or whether appellants raised any objection to a specific instruction that was given. [18] As such, we review the court's failure to give the instruction that appellants claim was required for plain error. See Williams v. United States, 858 A.2d 984, 991-92 (D.C. 2004); see also United States v. Olano, 507 U.S. 725, 731-32, 113 S.Ct. 1770, 123 L.Ed.2d 508 (1993). Under plain error review, appellant must show error that is clear and that affected appellant['s] substantial rights. If those three preliminary requirements are met, the court may notice the error and grant relief if the error would call into serious question the fairness, integrity or public reputation of judicial proceedings. Pérez v. United States, 968 A.2d 39, 92 (D.C.2009) (citing Olano, supra, 507 U.S. at 732-36, 113 S.Ct. 1770). Although not entirely clear what specific instruction the trial court rejected, it appears from appellants' brief that appellants wanted the jury to be instructed that, regardless of the possible negligence of Grimberg, CMR and CRSS could still be found liable. The trial court did, in fact, instruct the jury that [i]t is no defense that some other person who [i]s not a defendant in the case participated in causing the injuries even if it should appear to you that the negligence of the other person was greater than the negligence of the [d]efendant. As the instruction given by the trial court appears to have adequately addressed the principle that appellants wanted to convey, we cannot say that its failure to give the instruction appellants requested was in error, that it was clear error, and that it affected the substantial rights of appellants. See Pérez, supra, 968 A.2d at 92.