Rules for District Courts of Oklahoma · Last amended August 1, 2013 · Last verified August 3, 2026
In one sentenceDirects the trial judge, not the jury, to identify the disputed factual issues in a civil case and to state them to the jury in clear language, without reading the pleadings to the jury or setting them out in the instructions.
Full Text of Rule 28
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It is the duty of the trial judge to determine the issues in a civil case and to inform the jury in clear and succinct language what the issues of fact are that are being submitted to them for their decision. The judge should not require the jury to determine the issues of fact from the pleadings, and the judge should not set out the pleadings in the instructions in whole or in part.
See Lambard-Hart Loan Co. v. Smiley, 1925 OK 701, supp op on rh'g 6-7, 242 P. 212, 214; Marathon Battery Co. v. Kilpatrick, 1965 OK 212, 62, 418 P.2d 900, 915.
Amendment History
Amended by order of the Supreme Court, 2013 OK 68, eff. 8/1/2013.
Plain-English Summary
Rule 28 puts the job of framing the factual dispute on the judge, not the parties' own pleadings. It is the trial judge's duty to determine the issues of fact in a civil case and inform the jury, in clear and succinct language, what those issues are. The judge should not make the jury work out the fact issues from the pleadings, and should not set the pleadings out in the jury instructions, in whole or in part.
Frequently Asked Questions
Whose job is it to tell the jury what facts are in dispute?
The trial judge's. Rule 28 makes it the judge's duty to determine the fact issues in a civil case and state them to the jury in clear, succinct language.
Why can't the judge just quote the pleadings to define the issues?
Pleadings are often broader and more technical than the actual dispute at trial, and Rule 28 requires the judge to state the real issues of fact in clear language instead of leaving jurors to sort them out from the pleadings.
Can the judge just read the pleadings to the jury to explain what's disputed?
No. Rule 28 says the judge should not require the jury to determine the fact issues from the pleadings, or set the pleadings out in the instructions in whole or in part.
Source & verification. Rule text is reproduced verbatim from the
Rules for District Courts of Oklahoma, promulgated by the Supreme Court of Oklahoma
as an appendix to Chapter 2 of Title 12 of the Oklahoma Statutes.
Last verified August 3, 2026.
· Official source
Also known as:oklahoma jury instructions fact issuesrule 28 rules for district courtscivil jury instructions oklahoma