M Civ JI 30.05 Medical Malpractice: Permissible Inference of Malpractice from Circumstantial Evidence (Res Ipsa Loquitur)

If you find that the defendant had control over the [ body of the plaintiff / instrumentality which caused the plaintiff’s injury ], and that the plaintiff’s injury is of a kind which does not ordinarily occur without someone’s negligence, then you may infer that the defendant was negligent.

However, you should weigh all of the evidence in this case in determining whether the defendant was negligent and whether that negligence was a proximate cause of plaintiff’s injury.

Note on Use

This instruction should be given only if there is expert testimony that the injury does not ordinarily occur without negligence, or if the court finds that such a determination could be made by the jury as a matter of common knowledge.

This instruction should be followed by M Civ JI 30.03 Burden of Proof.

As to whether this instruction is appropriate in a case involving an issue of contributory negligence, see Jones v Porretta, 428 Mich 132, 151, fn 5; 405 NW2d 863 (1987).

History

M Civ JI 30.05 was added December 1987.