Rekkbie v. Simpson

Filing 41

Jury Instructions. (CDR)

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
WESTERN DISTRICT OF KENTUCKY
BOWLING GREEN DIVISION
CIVIL ACTION NO. 1:14-CV-00165-GNS-HBB

ALI REKKBIE d/b/a Alinda's Trading

v.

TERRY SIMPSON d/b/a Diesel

DEFENDANT

JURY INSTRUCTIONS

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These instructions will be in three parts: first, general rules that define and control your
duties as jurors; second, the rules of law that you must apply in deciding whether the parties have
proven their claims; and third, some rules for your deliberations. A copy of these instructions
will be available to you in the jury room.
I.

GENERAL RULES CONCERNING JURY DUTY

You have two main duties as jurors. The first one is to decide what the facts are from the
evidence that you saw and heard here in court. Deciding what the facts are is your job, not mine,
and nothing that I have said or done during this trial was meant to influence your decision about
the facts in any way. Your second duty is to take the law that I give you, apply it to the facts,
and decide if the plaintiff has proven the defendant liable on the claim by a preponderance of the
evidence and if the defendant has proven the plaintiff liable on the counterclaim by a
preponderance of the evidence.
It is my job to instruct you about the law, and you are bound by the oath that you took at

the beginning of the trial to follow the instructions that I give you, even if you personally

disagree with them. This includes the instructions that I gave you before and during the trial, and
these instructions. All the instructions are important, and you should consider them together as a
whole. The lawyers have talked about the law during their arguments. But if what they said is
different from what I say, you must follow what I say. What I say about the law controls.
Perform these duties fairly. Do not let any bias, sympathy or prejudice that you may feel
toward one side or the other influence your decision in any way.
A.

Evidence

You must make your decision based only on the evidence that you saw and heard here in
court. Do not let rumors, suspicions, or anything else that you may have seen or heard outside of
court influence your decision in any way. The evidence in this case includes only what the
witnesses said while they were testifying under oath; the exhibits that I allowed into evidence;
and the stipulations that the lawyers agreed to.
Nothing else is evidence. The lawyers ' statements and arguments are not evidence.
Their questions and objections are not evidence. My legal rulings are not evidence. And my
comments and questions are not evidence.
During the trial I did not let you hear the answers to some of the questions that the
lawyers asked. Sometimes I ordered you to disregard things that you saw or heard, or I struck
things from the record. You must completely ignore all of these things. Do not even think about
them. Do not speculate about what a witness might have said or what an exhibit might have
shown. These things are not evidence, and you are bound by your oath not to let them influence
you decision in any way.
Make your decision based only on the evidence, as I have defined it here, and nothing
else.

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You should use your common sense in weighing the evidence. Consider it in light of your
everyday experience with people and events, and give it whatever weight you believe it deserves.
If your experience tells you that certain evidence reasonably leads to a conclusion, you are free
to reach that conclusion.
B.

Credibility of Witnesses

Another part of your job as jurors is to decide how credible or believable each witness
was. This is your job, not mine. It is up to you to decide if a witness ' s testimony was believable,
and how much weight you think it deserves. You are free to believe everything that a witness
said, or only part of it, or none of it at all. But you should act reasonably and carefully in making
these decisions.
Let me suggest some things for you to consider in evaluating each witness's testimony.
(a)

Ask yourself if the witness was able to clearly see or hear the events.

Sometimes even an honest witness may not have been able to see or hear what was
happening, and may make a mistake.
(b)

Ask yourself how good the witness 's memory seemed to be.

Did the

witness seem able to accurately remember what happened?
(c)

Ask yourself if there was anything else that may have interfered with the

witness' s ability to perceive or remember the events.
(d)

Ask yourself how the witness acted while testifying.

Did the witness

appear honest? Or did the witness appear to be lying?
(e)

Ask yourself if the witness had any relationship to the plaintiff or the

defendant, or anything to gain or lose from the case that might influence the witness ' s
testimony. Ask yourself if the witness had any bias, or prejudice, or reason for testifying

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that might cause the witness to -lie or to slant the testimony in favor of one side or the
other.
(f)

And ask yourself how believable the witness's testimony was in light of

all the other evidence. Was the witness's testimony supported or contradicted by other
evidence that you found believable?

If you believe that a witness's testimony was

contradicted by other evidence, remember that people sometimes forget things, and that
even two honest people who witness the same event may not describe it exactly the same
way.
These are only some of the things that you may consider in deciding how believable each witness
was.

You may also consider other things that you think shed some light on the witness's

believability. Use your common sense and your everyday experience in dealing with other
people.

And then decide what testimony you believe, and how much weight you think it

deserves.
One more important point about witnesses. Sometimes jurors wonder if the number of
witnesses who testified makes any difference. Do not make any decisions based solely on the
number of witnesses who testified. What is more important is how believable the witnesses
were, and how much weight you think their testimony deserves. Concentrate on that, not the
numbers.
C.

Lawyers' Objections

There is one more general subject that I want to talk to you about before I begin
explaining the elements of the plaintiffs claims. The lawyers for both sides objected to some of
the things that were said or done during the trial. Do not hold that against either side. The

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lawyers have a duty to object whenever they think that something is not permitted by the rules of
evidence. Those rules are designed to make sure that both sides receive a fair trial.
Do not interpret my rulings on their objections as any indication of how I think the case
should be decided. My rulings were based on the rules of evidence, not on how I feel about the
case. Remember that your decision must be based only on the evidence that you saw and heard
here in court.
II.

JURY DELIBERATIONS

The first thing you should do in the jury room is choose someone to be your foreperson.
This person will help to guide your discussions, and will speak for you here in court. Once you
start deliberating, do not talk to the jury officer, or to me, or to anyone else except each other
about the case.
If you have any questions or messages, you must write them down on a piece of paper,
sign them, and then give them to the jury officer. The officer will give them to me, and I will
respond as soon as I can. I may have to talk to the lawyers about what you have asked, so it may
take me some time to get back to you. Any questions or messages normally should be sent to me
through your foreperson.

One more thing about messages. Do not ever write down or tell

anyone, including me, how you stand on your votes. For example, do not write down or tell
anyone that you are split 4-3, or 3-4, or whatever your vote happens to be. That should stay
secret until you are finished.
a.

Experiments, Research, Investigation, and Outside Communications

Remember that you must make your decision based only on the evidence that you saw
and heard here in court. During your deliberations, you must not communicate with or provide
any information to anyone by any means about this case.

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You may not use any electronic device or media, such as a telephone, cell phone, smart
phone, iPhone, Blackberry, or computer, the Internet, any Internet service, or any text or instant
messaging service, any Internet chat room, blog, or website such as Facebook, MySpace,
Linkedin, YouTube, or Twitter, to communicate to anyone any information about this case or to
conduct any research about this case until I accept your verdict. In other words, you cannot talk
to anyone on the phone, correspond with anyone, or electronically communicate with anyone
about this case. You can only discuss the case in the jury room with your fellow jurors during
deliberations. I expect you will inform me as soon as you become aware of another juror' s
violation of these instructions.
You may not use these electronic means to investigate or communicate about the case
because it is important that you decide this case based solely on the evidence presented in this
courtroom. Information on the Internet or available through social media might be wrong,
incomplete, or inaccurate. You are only permitted to discuss the case with your fellow jurors
during deliberations because they have seen and heard the same evidence you have. In our
judicial system, it is important that you are not influenced by anything or anyone outside of this
courtroom. Otherwise, your decision may be based on information known only by you and not
your fellow jurors or the parties in the case. This would unfairly and adversely impact the
judicial process.

A juror who violates these restrictions jeopardizes the fairness of these

proceedings, and a mistrial could result, which would require the entire trial process to start over.
b.

Unanimous Verdict

Your verdict or answer to any question must be unarnmous.
members of the jury must agree on any answer to the question and verdict.

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That 1s, all seven (7)

c.

Duty to Deliberate

Now that all the evidence is in and the arguments are completed, you are free to talk
about the case in the jury room. In fact, it is your duty to talk with each other about the evidence,
and to make every reasonable effort you can to reach unanimous agreement. Talk with each
other, listen carefully and respectfully to each other' s views, and keep an open mind as you listen
to what your fellow jurors have to say. Try your best to work out your differences. Do not
hesitate to change you mind if you are convinced that other jurors are right and that your original
position was wrong.
But do not ever change your mind just because other jurors see things differently, or just
to get the case over with. In the end, your vote must be exactly that-your own vote. It is
important for you to reach unanimous agreement, but only if you can do so honestly and in good
conscience.
No one will be allowed to hear your discussions in the jury room, and no record will be
made of what you say. So you should all feel free to speak your minds. Listen carefully to what
the other jurors have to say, and then decide for yourself if the plaintiff has established every
essential element of his claim by a preponderance of the evidence as to each claim.

d.

Juror Notes

Remember that if you elected to take notes during the trial, your notes should be used
only as memory aids. You should not give your notes greater weight than your independent
recollection of the evidence. You should rely upon your own independent recollection of the
evidence or lack of any evidence and you should not be unduly influenced by the notes of other
jurors. Notes are not entitled to any more weight than the memory or impression of each juror.

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Whether you took notes or not, each of you must form and express your own opinion as to the
facts of the case.

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INSTRUCTION NO. 1
You will find for Ali Rekkbie if you are satisfied from the evidence that both Ali Rekkbie
and Terry Simpson understood and agreed on how Terry Simpson would compensate Ali
Rekkbie for the resale of the diesel engines; otherwise you will find for Terry Simpson.

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INSTRUCTION NO. 2
You will find for Ali Rekkbie under this instruction if you are satisfied from the evidence
that Terry Simpson breached the terms of their agreement; otherwise you will find for Terry
Simpson.

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INSTRUCTION NO. 3

If you find for Ali Rekkbie, you will determine from the evidence and award him a sum
of money equal to the amount reasonably required to compensate Ali Rekkbie for the amount of
damages to which he was entitled.

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INSTRUCTION NO. 4

You will find for Terry Simpson if you are satisfied from the evidence that both Terry
Simpson and Ali Rekkbie understood and agreed that Ali Rekkbie would split the profits on the
resale of the diesel engines with Terry Simpson; otherwise you will find for Ali Rekkbie.

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INSTRUCTION NO. 5

You will find for Terry Simpson under this instruction if you are satisfied from the
evidence that Ali Rekkbie breached the terms of their agreement; otherwise you will find for Ali
Rekkbie.

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INSTRUCTION NO. 6

If you find for Terry Simpson, you will determine from the evidence and award him a
sum of money equal to the amount reasonably required to compensate Terry Simpson for the
amount of damages to which he was entitled.

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INSTRUCTION NO. 7

The term "preponderance of the evidence" is used in these Instructions and deserves
additional explanation. To establish by the "preponderance ofthe evidence" means to prove that
something is more likely so than not so. In other words, a preponderance of the evidence in this
case means such evidence that, when considered and compared to that opposed to it, has more
convincing force and produces in your mind a belief that what is sought to be proved is more
likely true than not true.
In determining whether any fact in issue in this case has been proved by a preponderance
of the evidence you may, unless otherwise instructed, consider the testimony of all witnesses,
regardless of who may have called them, and all exhibits received in evidence, regardless of who
may have produced them.

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