Civil Jury Instructions Home

3.4-6  Damages - Compensation for Increased Risk of Injury

Revised to January 1, 2008

The plaintiff claims that (he/she) has suffered an increased risk of <alleged future complication> as a result of the defendant’s negligence.  The plaintiff is entitled to recover damages for physical harm resulting from a failure to exercise reasonable care.  If the failure to exercise reasonable care increases the risk that such harm will occur in the future, the plaintiff is entitled to compensation for the increased risk.  In order to award this element of damages, you must find a breach of duty that was a substantial factor in causing a present injury which has resulted in an increased risk of future harm.  The increased risk must have a basis in the evidence.  Your verdict may not be based on speculation.  The plaintiff is entitled to compensation to the extent that the future harm is likely to occur as measured by multiplying the total compensation to which the plaintiff would be entitled if the harm in question were certain to occur by the proven probability that the harm in question will in fact occur.

Authority

Marchetti v. Ramirez, 240 Conn. 49, 55 (1997); Seymour v. Carcia, 221 Conn. 473, 481 n.7 (1992); Petriello v. Kalman, 215 Conn. 377, 392 n.7, 397-98 (1990).

Notes

This issue should not be submitted to the jury absent a reasonable basis in the evidence for the estimation of such damages.  Seymour v. Carcia, supra, 221 Conn. 481 n.7.