Gatx/Airlog Company, et al v. Evergreen Intl, et al

Filing 2159

PRELIMINARY JURY INSTRUCTIONS [VERSION TWO]. Signed by Judge Claudia Wilken on October 28, 2011. (cwlc3, COURT STAFF) (Filed on 10/28/2011)

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IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

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FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

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KALITTA AIR, L.L.C., as assignee of
American International Airways, Inc.,
Plaintiff,

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CENTRAL TEXAS AIRBORNE SYSTEMS, INC.,
Defendant.

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/

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United States District Court
For the Northern District of California

PRELIMINARY JURY
INSTRUCTIONS
[VERSION TWO]

v.

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No. C 96-2494 CW

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DUTY OF THE JURY

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Ladies and gentlemen: You are now the jury in this case.

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It

is my duty to instruct you on the law.

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These instructions are preliminary instructions to help you

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understand the principles that apply to civil trials and to help

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you understand the evidence as you listen to it.

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a copy of these instructions to keep throughout the trial.

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set of instructions is not to be taken home and must remain in the

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jury room when you leave in the evenings.

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I will give you a final set of instructions.

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of instructions which will govern your deliberations.

You will be given
This

At the end of the trial,
It is the final set

You must not infer from these instructions or from anything I

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may say or do that I have an opinion regarding the evidence or what

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your verdict should be.
It is your duty to find the facts from all the evidence in the

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case.

To those facts you will apply the law as I give it to you.

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You must follow the law as I give it to you whether you agree with

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it or not.

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dislikes, opinions, prejudices or sympathy.

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must decide the case solely on the evidence before you.

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recall that you took an oath to do so.

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And you must not be influenced by any personal likes or
That means that you
You will

In following my instructions, you must follow all of them and
not single out some and ignore others; they are all important.

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CLAIMS AND DEFENSES

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To help you follow the evidence, I will give you a brief

United States District Court
For the Northern District of California

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summary of the positions of the parties:
In this case, the Plaintiff is suing the Defendant for

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negligence.

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known as American International Airways or AIA, and is owned by

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Conrad Kalitta.

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Systems or CTAS.

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The Plaintiff company is Kalitta Air, which used to be

The Defendant company is Central Texas Airborne

Kalitta had contracted with a company called GATX/Airlog to

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convert two Boeing 747 airplanes from passenger planes to freighter

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planes.

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tail numbers, N701CK and N706CK.

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converted, the Federal Aviation Administration, also known as the

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FAA, ordered that the planes could not fly if they carried the

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220,000 pounds of freight that they were intended to carry, which

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meant that it was not profitable to use them.

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Kalitta sued CTAS.

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transaction but are not parties in this trial are Evergreen

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International Airlines, the Bank of New York or BNY, GATX/Airlog,

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Pemco Aeroplex, which used to be called Hayes International

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The two planes in question are often referred to by their
However, after the planes were

As a result, the

Other companies which were involved in the

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Corporation, and Elsinore Aerospace Services.

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Kalitta claims that CTAS negligently performed the

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modification.

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caused by the grounding of the planes and for consequential damages

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caused to the company.

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Kalitta is asking for CTAS to pay for direct damages

CTAS denies Kalitta's claim for negligence.

CTAS also denies

that Kalitta is entitled to damages.

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WHAT IS EVIDENCE

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The evidence you are to consider in deciding what the facts

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For the Northern District of California

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are consists of:

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(1) the sworn testimony of any witness;

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(2) the exhibits which are received into evidence; and

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(3) any facts to which the lawyers stipulate.

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WHAT IS NOT EVIDENCE

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In reaching your verdict, you may consider only the testimony

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and exhibits received into evidence.

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evidence, and you may not consider them in deciding what the facts

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are.

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Certain things are not

I will list them for you:
(1) Arguments and statements by lawyers are not evidence.

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lawyers are not witnesses.

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statements, closing arguments, and at other times is intended to

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help you interpret the evidence, but it is not evidence.

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facts as you remember them differ from the way the lawyers state

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The

them, your memory of them controls.

What they will say in their opening

If the

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(2) Questions and objections by lawyers are not evidence.

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Attorneys have a duty to their clients to object when they believe

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a question is improper under the rules of evidence.

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You should not

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be influenced by the objection or by the Court’s ruling on it.
(3) Testimony that is excluded or stricken, or that you are

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instructed to disregard, is not evidence and must not be

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considered.

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(4) Anything you see or hear when the Court is not in session

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is not evidence.

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received at the trial.

You are to decide the case solely on the evidence

EVIDENCE FOR LIMITED PURPOSE

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Some evidence may be admitted for a limited purpose only.

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For the Northern District of California

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When I instruct you that an item of evidence has been admitted for

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a limited purpose, you must consider it only for that limited

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purpose and for no other.

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DIRECT AND CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE
Evidence may be direct or circumstantial.

Direct evidence is

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direct proof of a fact, such as testimony by a witness about what

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that witness personally saw or heard or did.

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evidence is proof of one or more facts from which you could find

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another fact.

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makes no distinction between the weight to be given to either

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direct or circumstantial evidence.

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much weight to give to any evidence.

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Circumstantial

You should consider both kinds of evidence.

The law

It is for you to decide how

RULING ON OBJECTIONS
There are rules of evidence that control what can be received

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into evidence.

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into evidence and a lawyer on the other side thinks that it is not

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permitted by the rules of evidence, that lawyer may object.

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overrule the objection, the question may be answered or the exhibit

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When a lawyer asks a question or offers an exhibit

If I

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received.

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answered, and the exhibit cannot be received.

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an objection to a question, you must ignore the question and must

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not guess what the answer might have been.

If I sustain the objection, the question cannot be
Whenever I sustain

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CREDIBILITY OF WITNESSES

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In deciding the facts in this case, you may have to decide

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which testimony to believe and which testimony not to believe.

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may believe everything a witness says, or part of it, or none of

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it.

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For the Northern District of California

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You

In considering the testimony of any witness, you may take into

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account:

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(1) the opportunity and ability of the witness to see or hear or

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know the things testified to;

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(2) the witness' memory;

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(3) the witness' manner while testifying;

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(4) the witness' interest in the outcome of the case and any bias

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or prejudice;

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(5) whether other evidence contradicted the witness' testimony;

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(6) the reasonableness of the witness' testimony in light of all

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the evidence; and

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(7) any other factors that bear on believability.

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The weight of the evidence as to a fact does not necessarily
depend on the number of witnesses who testify about it.
EXPERT OPINION
Some witnesses, because of education or experience, are

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permitted to state opinions and the reasons for those opinions.

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Opinion testimony should be judged just like any other

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testimony.

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weight as you think it deserves, considering the witness’s

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education and experience, the reasons given for the opinion, and

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all the other evidence in the case.

You may accept it or reject it, and give it as much

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CHARTS AND SUMMARIES

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Certain charts and summaries may be received into evidence to

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illustrate information brought out in the trial.

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summaries are only as good as the underlying evidence that supports

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them.

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For the Northern District of California

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Charts and

You should, therefore, give them only such weight as you

think the underlying evidence deserves.

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Certain graphics not received in evidence may be shown to you

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in order to help explain the contents of books, records, documents

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or other evidence in the case.

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proof of any facts.

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figures shown by the evidence in the case, you should disregard

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these graphics and determine the facts from the underlying

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evidence.

They are not themselves evidence or

If they do not correctly reflect the facts or

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CORPORATIONS

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All parties are equal before the law and a corporation is

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entitled to the same fair and conscientious consideration by you as

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any party.

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LIABILITY OF CORPORATIONS

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Under the law, a corporation is considered to be a person.

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can only act through its employees, agents, directors, or officers.

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Therefore, a corporation is responsible for the acts of its

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employees, agents, directors, and officers performed within the

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scope of authority.

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It

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CONDUCT OF THE JURY

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I will now say a few words about your conduct as jurors.

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First, keep an open mind throughout the trial, and do not

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decide what the verdict should be until you and your fellow jurors

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have completed your deliberations at the end of the case.

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Second, because you must decide this case based only on the

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evidence received in the case and on my instructions as to the law

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that applies, you must not be exposed to any other information

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about the case or the issues it involves during the course of your

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For the Northern District of California

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jury duty.

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otherwise do not communicate with anyone in any way and do not let

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anyone else communicate with you in any way about the merits of the

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case or anything to do with it.

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in person, in writing, by phone or electronic means, via e-mail,

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text messaging, or any Internet chat room, blog, Web site or other

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feature.

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until I give you the case for deliberation, and it applies to

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communicating with everyone else including your family members,

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your employer, and the people involved in the trial, although you

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may notify your family and your employer that you have been seated

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as a juror in the case.

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way about your jury service or about this case, you must respond

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that you have been ordered not to discuss the matter and to report

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the contact to the court.

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Thus, until the end of the case or unless I tell you

This includes discussing the case

This applies to communicating with your fellow jurors

But, if you are asked or approached in any

Because you will receive all the evidence and legal

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instruction you properly may consider to return a verdict: do not

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read, watch, or listen to any news or media accounts or commentary

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about the case or anything to do with it; do not do any research,

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such as consulting dictionaries, searching the Internet or using

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other reference materials; and do not make any investigation or in

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any other way try to learn about the case on your own.

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I know that many of us are used to communicating and learning

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by electronic communications and research.

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reasons why you must not electronically communicate or do any

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research on anything having to do with this trial or the parties.

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In court, jurors must make important decisions that have

However, there are good

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For the Northern District of California

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consequences for the parties.

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on the evidence that you hear in this courtroom.

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Those decisions must be based only

The evidence that is presented in court can be tested; it can

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be shown to be right or wrong by either side; it can be questioned;

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and it can be contradicted by other evidence.

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or hear on your own could easily be wrong, out of date, or

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inapplicable to this case.

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What you might read

The parties can receive a fair trial only if the facts and

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information on which you base your decisions are presented to you

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as a group, with each juror having the same opportunity to see,

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hear, and evaluate the evidence.

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Also, a trial is a public process that depends on disclosure

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in the courtroom of facts and evidence.

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in secret by one or more jurors undermines the public process and

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violates the rights of the parties.

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Using information gathered

A juror who violates these restrictions jeopardizes the

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fairness of these proceedings, and a mistrial could result that

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would require the entire trial process to start over.

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If any juror

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is exposed to any outside information, please notify the court

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immediately.

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NO TRANSCRIPT AVAILABLE TO JURY
At the end of the trial, you will have to make your decision

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based on what you recall of the evidence.

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transcript of the trial.

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testimony as it is given.

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For the Northern District of California

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You will not have a

I urge you to pay close attention to the

If at any time you cannot hear or see the testimony, evidence,
questions or arguments, let me know so that I can correct the
problem.

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TAKING NOTES

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If you wish, you may take notes to help you remember the

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evidence. If you do take notes, please keep them to yourself until

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you and your fellow jurors go to the jury room to decide the case.

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Do not let note-taking distract you. When you leave, your notes

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should be left in the jury room.

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They will be destroyed at the conclusion of the case.

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No one will read your notes.

Whether or not you take notes, you should rely on your own

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memory of the evidence.

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should not be overly influenced by your notes or those of your

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fellow jurors.

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Notes are only to assist your memory.

You

QUESTIONS TO WITNESSES BY JURORS
You will be allowed to propose written questions to witnesses.

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You may propose questions in order to clarify the testimony, but

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you are not to express any opinion about the testimony or argue

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with a witness.

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role is that of a neutral fact finder, not an advocate.

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If you

propose any questions, remember that your

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You may write out questions on a form provided by the court

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and hand it to the clerk.

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the question with the attorneys to determine if it is legally

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proper.

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Do not sign the question.

I will review

There are some proposed questions that I will not permit, or

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will not ask in the wording submitted by the juror.

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happen either due to the rules of evidence or other legal reasons,

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or because the question is expected to be answered later in the

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case.

This might

If I do not ask a proposed question, or if I rephrase it, do

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For the Northern District of California

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not speculate as to the reasons.

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questions you or other jurors propose.

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answers to those questions in the same manner you evaluate all of

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the other evidence.

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Do not give undue weight to
You should evaluate the

By giving you the opportunity to propose questions, I am not

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requesting or suggesting that you do so.

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that a lawyer has not asked a question because it is legally

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objectionable or because a later witness may be addressing that

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subject.

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It will often be the case

OUTLINE OF TRIAL
Trials proceed in the following way:

First, each side may

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make an opening statement.

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It is simply an outline to help you understand what that party

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expects the evidence will show.

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opening statement.

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An opening statement is not evidence.

A party is not required to make an

The plaintiff will then present evidence, and counsel for the

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defendant may cross-examine.

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evidence, and counsel for the plaintiff may cross-examine.

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Then the defendant may present

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After the evidence has been presented, I will instruct you on

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the law that applies to the case and the attorneys will make

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closing arguments.

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After that, you will go to the jury room to deliberate on your
verdict.

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Dated: October 28, 2011
CLAUDIA WILKEN
United States District Judge

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United States District Court
For the Northern District of California

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