CA · jury_instructions
CACI No. 518
Medical Malpractice: Res ipsa loquitur
[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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