CJI-Civ. 1:1

(The remarks of the Court to the members of the jury panel at the commencement of the

trial should be substantially as follows:)

Members of the jury, this is (insert appropriate description, e.g., “Courtroom A,”

“Division II,” etc.) of the (County) (District) Court. My name is (insert name). I am the

judge assigned to preside in this case.

First, I want to tell you about the rules that will govern your conduct during your

jury duty, beginning right now, even if you are not finally selected as jurors. If you are

chosen as jurors, your job will be to decide this case based solely on the evidence presented

during the trial and the instructions that I will give you. You will not be investigators or

researchers, so do not attempt to gather any information about this case on your own. Do

not read or do research about this case or the issues in the case from any other source,

including the internet.

Your verdict must be based only on the evidence and the law provided to you in this

courtroom, and nothing else. If it is not presented here in court, you must not seek it out.

You must not look up, read, watch, or listen to anything about this case outside of what you

hear in this courtroom. That means you may not search the internet using tools like Google

or Bing, or any similar service. You may not search news or commentary from television,

streaming platforms, podcasts, online videos, or newspapers. You may not use social media

such as Facebook, Instagram, X/Twitter, or Reddit to find or discuss information. You may

not consult reference materials such as Wikipedia, blogs, online forums, dictionaries,

encyclopedias, or medical, scientific, or legal sources. You may not use any AI tools,

including ChatGPT or similar programs, to look up or generate information.

If you were to violate this rule by receiving outside information about the case, it

could force me to declare a mistrial, meaning that the trial would have to start over, and all

of the parties’ work, my work, and your work on this case would be wasted.

Therefore, it is very important that you not receive outside information about this

case, whether it comes from other people, from the media, from books or publications, or

from the internet. You are free to use the internet, but only for purposes unrelated to this

case. Do not search for or receive any information about the parties, the lawyers, the

witnesses, the judge, the evidence, or any place or location mentioned. Do not research the

law. Do not look up the meaning of any words or scientific or technical terms used. If

necessary, I will give you definitions of words or terms.

Also, you are not allowed to visit any place(s) involved in this case. If you normally

travel through such a place, you should try to take a different route until I tell you that

your jury service is completed. If you cannot take a different route, you must not stop or

attempt to gather any information from that location.

Until I tell you that your jury service is complete, do not communicate about the

case with anyone, including family and friends, whether in person or by telephone, cell

phone, smart phone, computer, internet, or any internet service. This means you must not

email, text, instant message, tweet, blog, or post information about this case, or about your

experience as a juror on this case, on any social media, website, listserv, chat room, or blog.

When court is not in session, you may communicate about anything other than this

case. You may tell others that you are on jury duty and that you cannot talk about this

duty until your service is completed, and you may tell them the estimated schedule of your

jury duty, but do not tell them anything else about the case. If anyone tries to communicate

with you about anything concerning the case, you must stop the communication

immediately and report it to the Bailiff, who will notify me.

(The Court) (I) will now introduce you to this case.

The case which we are about to try is a civil case and not a criminal case. The

(party) (parties) who started this case (is) (are) called (the) plaintiff(s). The opposing

(party) (parties) (is) (are) called (the) defendant(s). (If there are additional parties, describe

them and their role.) In this case the plaintiff(s) (is) (are) (insert name[s]), and the

defendant(s) (is) (are) (insert name[s]). (Insert statement about the nature of the case.)

There will be (insert number) jurors in this case. The jury will consider the evidence

and reach a verdict with the help of instructions about the law. (The Court) (I) will now

read you some of the instructions that may apply in this case. These are preliminary

instructions about the law and may not be exactly the same as the final instructions about

the law you will be given at the end of the case to use in your deliberations. If there is any

difference between the preliminary and final instructions, you must follow and be governed

by the final instructions in deciding the case. You should not be concerned about any

difference between the preliminary instructions and the final instructions. (Insert applicable

jury instructions, such as the definition of the burden of proof and any applicable evidentiary

standards.)

The jury must decide what the facts are from the evidence you hear and see during

the trial.

You have a duty to be fair and impartial.

[You must also not be biased for or against the defendant, any witness, or any other

party based on any identifying characteristic such as race, religion, age, gender, gender

identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, ethnicity, national origin, disability,

socioeconomic status, or any other such characteristic. And you must guard against

unconscious bias (also called implicit bias). Unconscious biases are stereotypes, perceptions,

attitudes, or preferences that people may hold without being aware of them. Such biases

can affect how we evaluate information and make decisions. You must not allow

unconscious bias to influence your verdict.]

This case must be decided only on the evidence presented at trial and the law as I

instruct you.

In this case, the parties are entitled to a jury trial. Trial by jury is part of our

American system of justice. Each juror plays an equal and important part in this system. It

is your duty to give this case your close attention, absolute fairness, and good judgment.

We estimate that this trial will last (insert number) days. (The Court may either at this

time or later inquire whether there are any members of the jury panel who would be unable to

serve during the trial if selected as jurors.)

You will not be required to stay together at noon or at night until the case is finally

given to you for your decision.