3941. Punitive Damages Individual Defendant Bifurcated Trial (First Phase)

3941. Punitive Damages--Individual Defendant--Bifurcated Trial (First Phase) Instruction No 1 Request by Plaintiff Given as Proposed Refused Withdrawn Request by Defendant Given as Modified Requested by Given on Court's Motion Judge Instruction No 1 If you decide that [name of defendant]'s conduct caused [name of plaintiff] harm, you must decide whether that conduct justifies an award of punitive damages. At this time, you must decide whether [name of plaintiff] has proved by clear and convincing evidence that [name of defendant] engaged in that conduct with malice, oppression, or fraud. The amount of punitive damages, if any, will be decided later. "Malice" means that [name of defendant] acted with intent to cause injury or that [name of defendant]'s conduct was despicable and was done with a willful and knowing disregard of the rights or safety of another. A person acts with knowing disregard when he or she is aware of the probable dangerous consequences of his or her conduct and deliberately fails to avoid those consequences. "Oppression" means that [name of defendant]'s conduct was despicable and subjected [name of plaintiff] to cruel and unjust hardship in knowing disregard of [his/her] rights. "Despicable conduct" is conduct that is so vile, base, or contemptible that it would be looked down on and despised by reasonable people. "Fraud" means that [name of defendant] intentionally misrepresented or concealed a material fact and did so intending to harm [name of plaintiff]. ________________________________________________________________________________ New September 2003; Revised April 2004, December 2005