N.C.P.I.—Civil 810.22

(For medical malpractice cases filed on or after 1

October 2011, use N.C.P.I.-Civil 809.122. Use this

instruction in place of N.C.P.I.-Civil 810.20 when a per

diem argument has been made.)

I instruct you that your findings on this (state number) issue must

be based on the evidence and the rules of law I have given you with

respect to the measure of damages. You are not required to accept the

amount of damages suggested by the parties or their attorneys.

An attorney is allowed to suggest an amount of damages and

therefore can suggest an amount for each (specify unit(s) of time, e.g.,

day, hour or minute) of physical pain or mental suffering. However, I

instruct you that there is no fixed mathematical formula for computing

damages for physical pain or mental suffering. Furthermore, an

attorney's argument is not evidence but is merely an approach to the

damage issue which you may consider but need not adopt.1

Your award must be fair and just. You should remember that you

are not seeking to punish either party, and you are not awarding or

withholding anything on the basis of sympathy or pity.

Finally, as to this (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 negligence]

[caused by the wrongful conduct] 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.