N.C.P.I.—Civil 800.11

The (state number) issue reads:

"What amount is the plaintiff entitled to recover from the

defendant as damages for negligent misrepresentation?"

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 proximately1 caused by the negligent misrepresentation

of the defendant.

Proximate cause is a cause which in a natural and continuous

sequence produces a person's damage, and is a cause which a reasonable

and prudent person could have foreseen would probably produce such

damage or some similar injurious result.

There may be more then one proximate cause of damage.

Therefore the plaintiff need not prove that the negligent

misrepresentation of the defendant was the sole proximate cause of the

damage. The plaintiff must prove, by the greater weight of the evidence,

only that the negligent misrepresentation of the defendant was a

proximate cause.

The damages recoverable for a negligent misrepresentation are

those necessary to compensate the plaintiff for his pecuniary loss

proximately caused by the misrepresentation of the defendant.2

Pecuniary loss is a financial or monetary loss suffered by the plaintiff.

[Pecuniary loss may include [the difference between the value of what

the plaintiff has received in the transaction and its purchase price or

other value given for it]3 [and] [financial or monetary loss suffered

otherwise as a consequence of the plaintiff's reliance upon the

misrepresentation4].]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 proximately caused by the negligent

misrepresentation of the defendant, then it would be your duty to write

that amount 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.