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CA · jury_instructions

CACI No. 518

Medical Malpractice: Res ipsa loquitur

activein force · 2025-01-01 – presentcompiled-edition

[Name of plaintiff] may prove that [name of defendant]’s negligence caused

[his/her/nonbinary pronoun] harm if [he/she/ nonbinary pronoun] proves all

of the following:

1. That [name of plaintiff]’s harm ordinarily would not have

occurred unless someone was negligent; [In deciding this issue,

you must consider [only] the testimony of the expert witnesses.]

2. That the harm occurred while [name of plaintiff] was under the

care and control of [name of defendant]; and

3. That [name of plaintiff]’s voluntary actions did not cause or

contribute to the event[s] that harmed [him/her/ nonbinary

pronoun].

If you decide that [name of plaintiff] did not prove one or more of these

three things, then you must decide whether [name of defendant] was

negligent in light of the other instructions I have read.

If you decide that [name of plaintiff] proved all of these three things, you

may, but are not required to, find that [name of defendant] was negligent

or that [name of defendant]’s negligence was a substantial factor in

causing [name of plaintiff]’s harm, or both.

[Name of defendant] contends that [he/she/ nonbinary pronoun/it] was not

negligent or that [his/her/ nonbinary pronoun/its] negligence, if any, did not

cause [name of plaintiff] harm. If after weighing all of the evidence you

believe that it is more probable than not that [name of defendant] was

negligent and that [his/her/ nonbinary pronoun/its] negligence was a

substantial factor in causing [name of plaintiff]’s harm, you must decide

in favor of [name of plaintiff]. Otherwise, you must decide in favor of

[name of defendant].

New September 2003; Revised December 2011

Provenance

Source
courts.ca.gov
Retrieved
2026-08-20
Edition
caci-2025
Content hash
e8dea43913683bc94099f28ee7fc7cec58a233b54162cc41dfd17d5e2b80083f
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