In re: Standard Jury Instructions in Civil Cases—Report No. 19-03
The Florida Supreme Court authorized amendments to the standard civil jury instructions governing products liability (403.7, 403.8, 403.15, 403.17, 403.18, 403.19) and Model Instruction No. 7. The amendments conform the design-defect instructions to Aubin v. Union Carbide (plaintiff may, but need not, use the risk/benefit test), fold the state-of-the-art language of section 768.1257 into the design-defect instruction rather than treating it as a separate defense, add a new learned intermediary defense instruction, and revise comparative fault/apportionment language from percentage of fault 'caused by' each party to percentage 'you apportion to' each.
Key facts
- The Florida Supreme Court considered amendments to standard civil jury instructions governing products liability, including instructions on design defects, state-of-the-art, learned intermediary defense, and comparative fault apportionment.
- The amendments conformed design-defect instructions to allow plaintiffs to prove defect under either consumer expectations or risk/benefit test (not requiring both), incorporated state-of-the-art language into the design-defect instruction, and added a new learned intermediary defense instruction for failure-to-warn claims.
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Why it matters
Products liability trial counsel must update their proposed instructions and verdict forms immediately — the opinion made the amendments effective on filing. The deletion of the separate state-of-the-art and government… — full analysis with a trial
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