3d Cir. Model Jury Instr. (Civil) 6.4.1

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Last updated March 2026

[defendant’s] actions were motivated by discrimination. In other words, even assuming that 29

[defendant’s] actions [or omissions] were motivated by discrimination, [plaintiff] is not entitled to 30

damages for an injury unless [defendant ’s] discriminatory actions [or omissions] actually played 31

a substantial part in bringing about that injury. 32

[There can be more than one cause of an injury. To find that [defendant ’s] act caused 33

[plaintiff’s] injury, you need not find that [defendant’s] act was the nearest cause, either in time or 34

space. However, if [plaintiff ’s] injury was caused by a later, independent event that intervened 35

between [defendant’s] act [or omission] and [plaintiff’s] injury, [defendant] is not liable unless the 36

injury was reasonably foreseeable by [defendant].] 37

In determining the amount of any damages that you decide to award, you should be guided 38

by common sense. You must use sound judgment in fixing an award of damages, drawing 39

reasonable inferences from the facts in evidence. You may not award damages based on sympathy, 40

speculation, or guesswork. 41

You may award damages for any pain, suffering, inconvenience, mental anguish, or loss 42

of enjoyment of life that [plaintiff] experienced as a consequence of [defendant ’s] [allegedly 43

unlawful act or omission]. No evidence of the monetary value of such intangible things as pain 44

and suffering has been, or need be, introduced into evidence. There is no exact standard for fixing 45

the compensation to be awarded for these elements of damage. Any award you make should be 46

fair in light of the evidence presented at the trial. 47

I instruct you that in awarding compensatory damages, you are not to award damages for 48

the amount of wages that [plaintiff] would have earned, either in the past or in the future, if [he/she] 49

had continued in employment with [defendant]. These elements of recovery of wages that 50

[plaintiff] would have received from [defendant] are called “back pay” and “front pay”. [Under 51

the applicable law, the determination of “back pay” and “front pay” is for the court.] [“Back pay” 52

and “front pay” are to be awarded separately under instructions that I will soon give you, and any 53

amounts for “back pay” and “front pay” are to be entered separately on the verdict form.] 54

You may award damages for monetary losses that [plaintiff] may suffer in the future as a 55

result of [defendant ’s] [allegedly unlawful act or omission]. [For example, you may award 56

damages for loss of earnings resulting from any harm to [plaintiff ’s] reputation that was suffered 57

as a result of [defendant’s] [allegedly unlawful act or omission]. Where a victim of discrimination 58

has been terminated by an employer, and has sued that employer for discrimination, [he/she] may 59

find it more difficult to be employed in the future, or she may have to take a job that pays less than 60

if the discrimination had not occurred. That element of damages is distinct from the amount of 61

wages [plaintiff] would have earned in the future from [defendant] if [he/she] had retained her 62