Proposed Pattern Jury Instructions Submitted
The Insurance Law Section Council previously prepared and approved last spring four proposed Pattern Jury Instructions relating to insurance litigation. Those proposed instructions, which may be seen on the Section website, cover the following topics:
- First-party bad faith;
- Expected or intended injury exclusion in CGL policy;
- Expected or intended injury exclusion in homeowners’ policy; and
- UM/UIM resident of household.
The proposed instructions have been submitted to the Pattern Jury Instruction Committee of the North Carolina Conference of Superior Court Judges for its consideration as additions to the North Carolina Pattern Instructions. Judge Don Bridges, the chair of the Pattern Jury Instruction Committee, asked the following regarding the proposed instructions on residency and intentional injury:
- Have cases raising these issues as jury questions been tried in Superior Court?
- If so, who were the lawyers and judges involved?
If you have knowledge of any cases responsive to these questions by Judge Bridges, please communicate the responsive information to Elizabeth Hodges at the address set forth below.
The Council, through its Pattern Jury Instruction Committee, has prepared an additional proposed pattern instruction on Unfair Trade Practice in handling insurance claims under N.C. Gen. Stat. §75-1.1 & 16 which is the mechanism for asserting a civil claim for alleged unfair claims practices proscribed by N.C. Gen. Stat. §58-63-15(11). When this instruction is approved by the Council, we plan to submit it to the Judges’ Pattern Jury Instruction Committee for its consideration.
If you have any experience with the submission of any such claims to a jury, please advise the Section’s Pattern Jury Instructions Committee.
The Pattern Jury Instruction Committee of the Council continues work on additional proposed instructions. To assist in that work, the Committee also requests that members of the Section provide the Committee with any jury instructions on insurance issues that were adopted and given by the court in any of their cases. The Committee will consider any samples received in its work.
The Committee also welcomes suggestions for additional pattern instructions or offers to volunteer by any member of the Section.
Please send information responsive to the questions above, sample instructions, suggestions for topics and offers to volunteer to Elizabeth Hodges at [email protected].