CACI No. 900. Introductory Instruction

Judicial Council of California Civil Jury Instructions (2025 edition)

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900.Introductory Instruction
[Name of plaintiff] claims that [he/she/nonbinary pronoun] was harmed by
[name of defendant]’s negligence while [he/she/nonbinary pronoun] was a
passenger on [name of defendant]’s [insert type of carrier, e.g., train].
[In this case, [name of defendant] was a common carrier at the time of
the incident. A common carrier provides transportation to the general
public.]
[or]
[[Name of plaintiff] also claims that [name of defendant] was a common
carrier at the time of the incident.]
New September 2003
Directions for Use
Give either one of the bracketed sentences, depending on whether the defendant’s
status as a common carrier is contested or not.
This instruction is intended as an introductory instruction to frame the issues. CACI
No. 400, Negligence - Essential Factual Elements, would still be given to set forth
the elements that plaintiff has to prove in order to recover (i.e., negligence, harm,
and causation).
Sources and Authority
• “Common Carrier” Defined. Civil Code section 2168.
• “Carriage” Defined. Civil Code section 2085.
• “[A] common carrier within the meaning of Civil Code section 2168 is any
entity which holds itself out to the public generally and indifferently to transport
goods or persons from place to place for profit.” (Squaw Valley Ski Corporation
v. Superior Court (1992) 2 Cal.App.4th 1499, 1508 [3 Cal.Rptr.2d 897].)
Secondary Sources
6 Witkin, Summary of California Law (11th ed. 2017) Torts, §§ 1055-1064
2 Levy et al., California Torts, Ch. 23, Carriers, § 23.01 (Matthew Bender)
11 California Forms of Pleading and Practice, Ch. 109, Carriers, § 109.32 et seq.
(Matthew Bender)
California Civil Practice: Torts § 28:1 (Thomson Reuters)
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