CACI No. 2905. Compliance With Employer’s Requests or Directions

Judicial Council of California Civil Jury Instructions (2023 edition)

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2905.Compliance With Employer’s Requests or Directions
[Name of plaintiff/decedent] was not negligent simply because
[he/she/nonbinary pronoun], at the request or direction of [name of
defendant], worked at a dangerous job, or in a dangerous place, or under
dangerous conditions.
New September 2003
Sources and Authority
• “In Joyce v. Atlantic Richfield Co., 651 F.2d 676, 683 (10th Cir. 1981), this court
held that when the evidence could support either contributory negligence or
assumption of the risk, instructions which only define contributory negligence
are not sufficient to prevent the jury from applying assumption of the risk. The
court held the jury instructions should also include the following admonition:
‘You may not find contributory negligence on the part of the plaintiff, however,
simply because he acceded to the request or direction of the responsible
representatives of his employer that he work at a dangerous job, or in a
dangerous place, or under unsafe conditions.’ The same instruction has been held
sufficient by other circuits.” (Sauer v. Burlington Northern Railroad Co. (10th
Cir. 1996) 106 F.3d 1490, 1493, internal citation omitted.)
• “[I]f no evidence of impermissible assumption of risk has reached the jury, a
correct instruction on contributory negligence will do. However, if, either
because of evidence introduced at trial or because of statements made by counsel
in opening or closing arguments, there is a risk that the implied consent theory
of assumption of the risk seeped its way into the case, the jury should be
instructed that it ‘may not find contributory negligence on the part of the
plaintiff . . . simply because he acceded to the request or direction of the
responsible representatives of his employer that he work at a dangerous job, or
in a dangerous place, or under unsafe conditions.’ ” (Fashauer v. New Jersey
Transit Rail Operations, Inc. (3d Cir. 1995) 57 F.3d 1269, 1280.)
Secondary Sources
42 California Forms of Pleading and Practice, Ch. 485, Railroads, § 485.35
(Matthew Bender)
2906-2919. Reserved for Future Use
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