NC · jury_instructions

N.C.P.I.—Civil 800.07

FRAUD: DAMAGES.

activein force · 2007-06-01 – presentas-observed

The (state number) issue reads:

"What amount is the plaintiff entitled to recover from the

defendant as damages for fraud?"

If you have answered the (state number) issue "Yes" in favor of the

plaintiff, then the plaintiff is entitled to recover nominal damages even

without proof of actual damages. Nominal damages consist of some

trivial amount such as one dollar in recognition of a technical injury to the

plaintiff.

The plaintiff may also be entitled to recover actual damages. On

this issue the burden of proof is on the plaintiff. This means that the

plaintiff must prove, by the greater weight of the evidence, the amount of

actual damages caused1 by the fraud of the defendant.

Damages recoverable for fraud consist of the amount of money

that, in so far as possible, will put the plaintiff in the same position or

condition as if the fraud had not occurred.2 That amount may include the

difference between the value of what was received and the value of what

was promised.3 Thus, a person acquiring property by virtue of a

commercial transaction, who has been defrauded by [a] false

representation[s], may recover as damages the difference between the

actual value of the property at the time of the transaction and the value

it would have had if the representation[s] had been true.4 [That amount

may also include financial or monetary loss suffered otherwise by the

plaintiff as a result of the fraud.5]

The plaintiff's damages are to be reasonably determined from the

evidence presented. Your award must be fair and just. You may not award

any damages based upon speculation or conjecture.6

Finally, as to the (state number) issue on which the plaintiff has

the burden of proof, if you find by the greater weight of the evidence the

amount of actual damages caused by the fraud of the defendant, then it

would be your duty to write that number in the blank space provided.

If, on the other hand, you fail to so find, then it would be your duty

to write a nominal sum such as one dollar in the blank space provided.

History

N.C.P.I.—Civil 800.07 (June 2007). Prepared by the North Carolina Conference of Superior Court Judges' Committee on Pattern Jury Instructions, assisted by the UNC School of Government; published by the School of Government.

Provenance

Source: sog.unc.edu
Retrieved: 2026-09-24
Edition: 2026-09-24
Content hash: b54c725dc67939217c01659564e82feb8342615c1bbc6abc6d89fbf56277e67f

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