11th Cir. Pattern Jury Instr. (Civil) 8.1

Instruction (Comparative Negligence Defense)

[Name of plaintiff] has brought a claim under a federal statute known as the

Jones Act. The Jones Act provides a remedy to a seaman who, while employed as a

crewmember of a vessel in navigation, suffers personal injuries because of the

negligence of the seaman’s employer, or the employer’s officers, agents, or other

employees.

Specifically, [name of plaintiff] claims that [name of defendant] [describe

the specific act(s) or omission(s) asserted as the defendant’s negligence].

To succeed on a claim under the Jones Act, [name of plaintiff] must prove

each of the following facts by a preponderance of the evidence:

First: you must find that at the time of the alleged injury, [name of plaintiff]

was acting in the course of employment as a crewmember of a vessel in navigation.

Second, you must find that [name of defendant] was negligent.

And third, you must find that the negligence was a legal cause of the injury

or damage [name of plaintiff] sustained.

[In the verdict form that I’ll explain in a moment, you’ll be asked to answer

questions about these factual issues.]

[The parties have agreed that, at the time of the alleged injury, [name of

plaintiff] was acting in the course of employment as a crewmember of a vessel in

navigation so you should accept that as a proven fact.]

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