Court Opinion

ID: 9684286
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 13:52:35.51356+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:17:54.684828
License: Public Domain

BILLINGS, Chief Judge
(concurring):
In view of the rulings by our Supreme Court in the cases cited in the principal opinion on the issue of modification of MAI 4.01, my concurrence is compelled. However, I want to point out the dilemma facing the trial court in giving MAI 4.01 in a situation such as the present case.
The Notes on Use dictate a modification substituting some descriptive term for the word “occurrence” so as to limit the jury to a consideration of the specific occurrence for which the defendant was liable. But what descriptive term will pass muster on appellate review? Two of the three dissenting judges in Russell v. Terminal Railroad Ass’n of St. Louis, supra, would correct MAI 4.01 so as to require the date of the event in question. Without some guidance from our Supreme Court a trial judge runs the risk of employing an unapproved descriptive term or an unauthorized modification of an approved instruction.
The dissent in Russell also points out that under existing law a party deeming an instruction too general has the obligation to offer a clarifying or limiting instruction in order to preserve error. In the absence of enforcement of this rule the trial court is placed in the unenviable position of being sandbagged by the inaction of the derelict party.