M Civ JI 4.01 Credibility of Witnesses

(1) You are the judges of the facts in this case, and you must determine which witnesses to believe and what weight to give to their testimony. You do not have to accept or reject everything a witness says. You are free to believe all, none, or part of any witness’s testimony.

(2) In deciding which testimony you believe, you should rely on your own common sense and everyday experience. However, in deciding whether you believe a witness’s testimony, you must set aside any bias or prejudice you have based on the witness’s disability, gender or gender identity, race, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, age, national origin, socioeconomic status or any other factor irrelevant to the rights of the parties.

(3) There is no fixed set of rules for judging whether you believe a witness, but it may help you to think about these questions:

(a) Was the witness able to see or hear clearly? How long was the witness watching or listening? Was anything else going on that might have distracted the witness?

(b) Does the witness seem to have a good memory?

(1) Human memory is not like video recordings that a witness can simply replay to remember precisely what happened;

(2) when a witness has been exposed to statements, conversations, questions, writings, documents, photographs, media reports, and opinions of others, the accuracy of their memory may be affected; and

(3) a witness’s memory, even if testified to in good faith, and with a high degree of confidence, may be inaccurate.

(c) What is the witness’s demeanor while testifying? Does the witness seem to be making an honest effort to tell the truth, or does the witness seem to evade the questions or argue with the lawyers?

(d) Does the witness’s age or maturity affect how you judge his or her testimony?

(e) Does the witness have any bias or prejudice, motives for testifying, or any personal interest in how this case is decided?

(f) Have there been any promises, threats, suggestions, or other influences that affect how the witness testifies?

(g) In general, does the witness have any special reason to tell the truth, or any special reason to lie?

(h) All in all, how reasonable does the witness’s testimony seems when you think about all the other evidence in the case?

Comment

Instructions including the credibility factors in this instruction have been approved in numerous cases by the Michigan Supreme Court. See, e.g., Hitchcock v Davis, 87 Mich 629; 49 NW 912 (1891); Lovely v Grand Rapids & I R Co, 137 Mich 653; 100 NW 894 (1904); Foley v Detroit & M R Co, 193 Mich 233; 159 NW 500 (1916); Vinton v Plainfield Twp, 208 Mich 179; 175 NW 403 (1919).

History

M Civ JI 4.01 was SJI 2.01. Amended January 1993, September 2022.