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WI · jury_instructions

Wis JI-Civil 2001

Intentional Versus Negligent Conduct

activein force · 1995-01-01 – presentas-observed

There is a dispute in this case about whether the conduct of (defendant) in

_______________ (state the conduct in question) was intentional or negligent.

If (defendant) actually meant some harm to follow from a particular act or where some

harm is substantially certain to follow from an act according to common experience, then

(defendant) may be said to have intended the result and (his) (her) conduct was intentional.

Intent requires both an intent to do an act and an intent to cause injury by that act. An

intent to cause injury exists where the actor actually means to cause injury by his or her

conduct or where injury is almost certain to occur from the actor's conduct.

If you find that the defendant intended to cause harm in some way, however great or

small, or that (defendant)'s conduct was almost certain to cause harm in some way, however

great or small, then (defendant)'s conduct was intentional.

If, however, the conduct of (defendant) merely created a risk of some harm to

someone, which may or may not have resulted, then (defendant)'s conduct was negligent as

opposed to intentional.

History

Wis JI-Civil 2001 (1995). ©1995, Regents, Univ. of Wis. Prepared by the Wisconsin Civil Jury Instructions Committee of the Wisconsin Judicial Conference with the University of Wisconsin Law School; posted by the Wisconsin State Law Library with the University's permission.

Provenance

Source
wilawlibrary.gov
Retrieved
2026-09-24
Edition
2026-09-24
Content hash
b0e43db25c2074dac7964bf0e55e57e0b75be28172573a0fced0c2819d5b6463
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