M Civ JI 12.04 Violation of Ordinance by Plaintiff

The [ city / township / village / [ other political subdivision ] ] of ________________ has an ordinance which provides that [ here quote or paraphrase the applicable part of the ordinance as construed by the courts ].

If you find that plaintiff violated this ordinance before or at the time of the occurrence, such violation is evidence of negligence which you should consider, together with all the other evidence, in deciding whether plaintiff was negligent. If you find that plaintiff was negligent, you must then decide whether such negligence was a proximate contributing cause of the [ injury / damage ] to plaintiff.

Note on Use

This instruction should be given only if—

the ordinance is intended to protect against the result of the violation;

the plaintiff is within the class intended to be protected by the ordinance; and

the evidence will support a finding that the violation was a proximate contributing cause of the injury involved.

If applicable, it should be given in close association with the applicable instructions defining proximate cause. See M Civ JI 15.01–15.06. If there is no dispute or question as to a violation of the ordinance, then the jury should be so instructed, leaving, however, the question as to whether such violation constituted negligence, under the facts and circumstances of the case, to the jury. A suggested alternative is as follows:

[ It is conceded / There is no question ] that plaintiff violated this ordinance at the time of the occurrence. You should consider this fact, together with all the other evidence, in deciding whether plaintiff was negligent. If you find that plaintiff was negligent, you must then decide whether such negligence was a proximate contributing cause of the [ injury / damage ] to plaintiff.

Where both statute and ordinance violations are involved, the instructions should not attempt to analyze the difference in treatment, this being more appropriately left to argument of counsel.

Comment

See Comment to M Civ JI 12.03.

History

M Civ JI 12.04 was SJI 12.06.