VA · jury_instructions
Va. Model Jury Instr. Civ. No. 21.050
Finding Instruction
The plaintiff makes two kinds of claims in this case: a [statutory; regulatory] claim based on
(insert cite to applicable statute or regulation) and a negligence claim. The rules of law that apply to
those two claims are different; this instruction will tell you the rules to apply.
You shall find your verdict for the plaintiff on his claim based on (insert cite to applicable statute
or regulation) if he proved by the greater weight of the evidence:
(1) that the defendant violated a statute or regulation enacted for the safety of employees; and
(2) that the violation caused or contributed to the [injury; death] by playing a part—no matter how
small—in bringing about the [injury; death].
If the plaintiff failed to prove either or both of the two elements above, then you shall find for
the defendant on the claim based on (insert cite to applicable statute or regulation), but you must
consider the remainder of this instruction.
You shall find your verdict for the plaintiff on his negligence claim if he proved by the greater
weight of the evidence:
(1) that the defendant was negligent; and
(2) that the negligence caused or contributed to the [injury; death] by playing a part—no matter
how small—in bringing about the [injury; death].
If the plaintiff failed to prove either or both of the two elements above, then you shall find for
the defendant on the negligence claim, but you must consider the remainder of this instruction.
If you find your verdict for the plaintiff on both the claim based on (insert cite to applicable
statute or regulation) and the negligence claim, or on the [statutory; regulatory] claim mentioned
above alone, then you shall proceed to determine his damages according to the other instructions
the court will give you. The negligence, if any, of the plaintiff does not bar him from recovering,
nor does it diminish his damages.
If you find your verdict for the plaintiff based only on the negligence claim, and if the defendant
proves by the greater weight of the evidence that the plaintiff was contributorily negligent, then
you shall reduce the amount of the verdict in proportion to the relative negligence of the plaintiff
and defendant.
If the plaintiff fails to prove either the negligence or the statutory claim, then you shall find
your verdict for the defendant.
History
Virginia Model Jury Instructions – Civil, Release 26, April 2026. The unannotated set, posted by the Supreme Court of Virginia at vacourts.gov; the book states that it is made available with the permission of the publisher, Matthew Bender & Company, Inc.
Provenance
- Source
- vacourts.gov
- Retrieved
- 2026-10-11
- Edition
- civ-2026-04-01
- Content hash
010adbb8b1da8e0199cd4a433f8d14bfaef68df4dcfbba1b40af569f43a60f9e
The link goes to the issuing authority’s own document — the one we read to produce this record. Where a source publishes whole titles rather than sections, your browser may need a moment to jump to the provision.
Unofficial copy of government-published law, reproduced from official sources with full provenance. Not an official publication; verify against official sources before relying on it in a filing. Records in the 'guidance' corpus, and only that corpus, are sub-regulatory (interpretive guidelines, survey procedures) and are not binding law. Validity bounds follow each jurisdiction's declared temporalBasis.