Civil Jury Instructions Home

4.5-4  Plaintiff's Burden of Proof as to Amounts

Revised to January 1, 2008

The plaintiff must prove by a preponderance of the evidence the amount of any damages to be awarded.  The evidence must give you a sufficient basis to estimate the amount of damages to a reasonable certainty.  Although damages may be based on reasonable and probable estimates, you may not award damages on the basis of guess, speculation or conjecture.

Authority

Leisure Resort Technology, Inc. v. Trading Cove Associates, 277 Conn. 21, 35 (2006); Beverly Hills Concepts, Inc. v. Schatz & Schatz, Ribicoff & Kotkin, 247 Conn. 48, 69 (1998); West Haven Sound Development Corp. v. West Haven, 207 Conn. 308, 317 (1988); Bronson & Townsend Co. v. Battistoni, 167 Conn. 321, 326-27 (1974); Bertozzi v. McCarthy, 164 Conn. 463, 468 (1973).

Notes

This burden of proof instruction is not repeated throughout each of the individual damages instructions set forth below, except the instruction on lost profits.