IN RE STANDARD JURY INSTRUCTIONS CIVIL CASES
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The Florida Supreme Court approved amendments to Standard Jury Instruction 2.1 to clarify jurors' duties regarding issues submitted, evidence consideration, and permissible inferences.
The Court approved proposed amendments to SJI 2.1 that refocus jurors on submitted issues, define admissible evidence, and explain permissible inferences and deductions.
[1] A standard jury instruction should direct jurors to decide only those issues submitted to them and to consider sworn testimony, admitted exhibits, and agreed facts in det…
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceThe Supreme Court Committee on Standard Jury Instructions (Civil) proposed amendments to SJI 2.1, the introductory instruction given to jurors.…
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PER CURIAM.
The Supreme Court Committee on Standard Jury Instructions (Civil) recommends several amendments to SJI 2.1, INTRODUCTORY INSTRUCTION. The proposed amendments are “designed to focus jurors on only those issues submitted to them, to provide a new definition of the evidence that jurors should consider in reaching their verdicts and to explain what inferences and deductions may be made from the evidence.”
We approve for publication the proposed amendments which follow this opinion.
It is so ordered.
MCDONALD, C.J., and OVERTON, EHRLICH, SHAW, BARKETT, GRIMES and KOGAN, JJ., concur. 2.1
INTRODUCTORY INSTRUCTION
Members of the jury, I shall now instruct you on the law that you must follow in reaching your verdict[s]. It is your duty as jurors to decide the issues, and only those issues, that Isubmit for determination by your verdict. In reaching your verdict, you should to consider and weigh the evidence, to decide the disputed issues of fact, and to apply the law on which I shall instruct you, to the facts as you find them from the evidence.
The evidence in this case consists of the sworn testimony of the witnesses, all exhibits received in evidence, [and] all facts that may be admitted or agreed to by the parties [, and any fact of which the court has taken judicial notice (explain as necessary) ].
In determining the facts, you may draw reasonable inferences from the evidence. You may make deductions and reach conclusions which reason and common sense lead you to draw from the facts shown by the evidence in this case. But you should not speculate on any matters outside the evidence.
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R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. v. Colette S. O'Hara for the Estate of Garry L. O'Hara, 228 So. 3d 1168 (Fla. 1st DCA 2017)…on and common sense lead you to draw from the facts shown , by the evidence in this case, but. you should not speculate on atiy matters outside the evidence." Fla. Std. Jury Instr. (Civ.) 2.1 (adopted in In re Standard Jury Instructions Civil Cases, 515 So. 2d 737, 737 (Fla. 1987)). That standard instruction has been replaced by another, 601.1, entitled "Weighing the Evidence," which states in relevant part: “Your job is to determine what the facts are. You may use reason and common sense to reach conclusions…