CACI No. 327. Assignment Not Contested
Judicial Council of California Civil Jury Instructions (2023 edition)
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327.Assignment Not Contested
[Name of plaintiff] was not a party to the original contract. However, [he/
she/nonbinary pronoun/it] may bring a claim for breach of contract
because [name of assignor] transferred the rights under the contract to
[name of plaintiff]. This transfer is referred to as an “assignment.”
New February 2005
Directions for Use
This instruction is intended to explain to the jury why a party not named in the
original contract is nevertheless a party to the case.
Sources and Authority
• Oral Assignment. Civil Code section 1052.
• “To ‘assign’ ordinarily means to transfer title or ownership of property, but an
assignment, to be effective, must include manifestation to another person by the
owner of his intention to transfer the right, without further action, to such other
person or to a third person. It is the substance and not the form of a transaction
which determines whether an assignment was intended. If from the entire
transaction and the conduct of the parties it clearly appears that the intent of the
parties was to pass title to the chose in action, then an assignment will be held
to have taken place.” (McCown v. Spencer (1970) 8 Cal.App.3d 216, 225 [87
Cal.Rptr. 213], internal citations omitted.)
Secondary Sources
1 Witkin, Summary of California Law (11th ed. 2017) Contracts, §§ 727-739
6 California Forms of Pleading and Practice, Ch. 60, Assignments, § 60.20 (Matthew
Bender)
27 California Legal Forms, Ch. 76, Assignments of Rights and Obligations, § 76.201
(Matthew Bender)
2 Matthew Bender Practice Guide: California Contract Litigation, Ch. 22, Suing or
Defending Action for Breach of Contract, 22.51-22.56, 22.58, 22.59
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