AK · jury_instructions
Alaska Civil Pattern Jury Instruction 16.02
Defamation - Elements of Defamation Per Se Where Plaintiff is Public Figure or Statement Relates to Issue of Public Interest or Concern
In this case, the plaintiff claims that the defendant harmed the plaintiff's reputation by making a false statement about the plaintiff. To establish this claim, the plaintiff must prove five elements. The plaintiff must prove that each of the following four elements is more likely true than not true:
(1) the defendant made the following statement: [insert statement determined by the court to be defamatory per se];
(2) the defendant communicated the statement to a person other than the plaintiff;
(3) the statement was reasonably understood by this person to be about the plaintiff; and
(4) the statement was false.
The fifth element of this claim requires the plaintiff to prove by clear and convincing evidence that the defendant either knew that the statement was false or had serious doubts about the truth of the statement.
An alleged fact is established by clear and convincing evidence if the evidence leads you to believe that the alleged fact is highly probable. It is not necessary that the alleged fact be certainly true, or true beyond a reasonable doubt, or conclusively true. However, it is not enough to show that the alleged fact is more likely true than not true.
If the plaintiff fails to prove any one of these elements, you must find for the defendant on this claim.
If the plaintiff proves all five elements, [you must find for the plaintiff on this claim] [you must then decide whether the law allows the defendant to make the statement].
History
Alaska Civil Pattern Jury Instructions 16.02, dated 2011. Prepared by the Alaska Civil Pattern Jury Instructions Committee; published by the Alaska Court System. The Alaska Court System states that these instructions "have not been approved or promulgated by any court or the Alaska Bar Association."
Provenance
- Source
- courts.alaska.gov
- Retrieved
- 2026-09-24
- Edition
- 2026-09-24
- Content hash
b9a68907039e42057fcd8eaad4e95858b71425983757aad94152e06d73fddf26
The link goes to the issuing authority’s own document — the one we read to produce this record. Where a source publishes whole titles rather than sections, your browser may need a moment to jump to the provision.
Unofficial copy of government-published law, reproduced from official sources with full provenance. Not an official publication; verify against official sources before relying on it in a filing. Records in the 'guidance' corpus, and only that corpus, are sub-regulatory (interpretive guidelines, survey procedures) and are not binding law. Validity bounds follow each jurisdiction's declared temporalBasis.