Litigation
Cal. Litig. 2016, Volume 29, Number 1
Content
- An Overview of Asbestos Litigation in California
- Editor's Foreword Golden Opportunity:a Fifth California Justice
- Exhibits: Never Mind the Quality, Feel the Width
- From the Section Chair a Non-Traditional Viewpoint
- Is That Your Final Judgment?
- Keeping Women in Civil Litigation Practice: Making it More Civilized
- Litigation Section Executive Committee Past Chairs
- Masthead
- McDermott On Demand: the Return of Dr.Arbuthnot
- Past Editors-in-Chief
- Privacy Expectations in an Era of Drones
- Table of Contents
- Temporary Judges in California Superior Courts
- Ten Ways to Increase Your Persuasion Skills
- Write Your Papers Like You Try Your Cases
- Demystifying Caci
Demystifying CACI
By The Honorable Martin J. Tangeman
CACI (pronounced Casey) stands for "California Civil Instructions." CACI Instructions are the official civil jury instructions approved by the Judicial Council of California for use in the state of California. The goal of CACI is to improve the quality of jury decision making by providing standardized instructions that accurately state the law in a way that is understandable to the average juror. (See Cal. Rules of Court, rule 2.1050.)
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In 1996 the Blue Ribbon Commission on Jury System Improvement reported that jury instructions could be made more useful to the jury if they were redrafted in more understandable language, i.e., "plain English." The commission stated that "jury instructions as presently given in California and elsewhere are, on occasion, simply impenetrable to the ordinary juror." In response to the commission’s recommendation, the Judicial Council created the Task Force on Jury Instructions in 1997.