CACI No. 3903E. Loss of Ability to Provide Household Services (Economic Damage)

Judicial Council of California Civil Jury Instructions (2023 edition)

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3903E.Loss of Ability to Provide Household Services (Economic
Damage)
[Insert number, e.g., “5.”] The loss of [name of plaintiff]’s ability to provide
household services.
To recover damages for the loss of the ability to provide household
services, [name of plaintiff] must prove the reasonable value of the
services [he/she/nonbinary pronoun] would have been reasonably certain
to provide to [his/her/nonbinary pronoun] household if the injury had not
occurred.
New September 2003
Sources and Authority
• “The first category consists of the reasonable value of nursing and other services
that Decedent would have provided to his wife prior to his death, but was unable
to provide due to his illness (replacement care). Again, [defendant] does not
contest the recoverability of such damages here. Nor did it below. Such damages
are recoverable. ‘Generally, household services damages represent the detriment
suffered when injury prevents a person from contributing some or all of his or
her customary services to the family unit.’ ” (Williams v. The Pep Boys Manny
Moe & Jack of California (2018) 27 Cal.App.5th 225, 238 [238 Cal.Rptr.3d 809]
[citing this instruction].)
• “The justification for awarding this type of damage as part of the loss of future
earnings award is that the plaintiff should be compensated for the value of the
services he would have performed during the lost years which, because of the
injury, will now have to be performed by someone else.” (Overly v. Ingalls
Shipbuilding, Inc. (1999) 74 Cal.App.4th 164, 171, fn. 5 [87 Cal.Rptr.2d 626],
internal citation omitted.)
• “ ‘To entitle a plaintiff to recover present damages for apprehended future
consequences, there must be evidence to show such a degree of probability of
their occurring as amounts to a reasonable certainty that they will result from the
original injury.’ ” (Bellman v. San Francisco High School Dist. (1938) 11 Cal.2d
576, 588 [81 P.2d 894], internal citation omitted.)
Secondary Sources
California Tort Damages (Cont.Ed.Bar) Bodily Injury, §§ 1.64-1.66
15 California Forms of Pleading and Practice, Ch. 177, Damages (Matthew Bender)
6 California Points and Authorities, Ch. 64, Damages: Tort (Matthew Bender)
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