§ 41.012.Jury Instructions

A mandatory instruction provision, naming four sections by number.

In a trial to a jury, the court shall instruct the jury with regard to the definitions provision, the standards for recovery of exemplary damages, the considerations in making an award, and the evidence relating to the amount of exemplary damages.

"Shall" leaves no discretion, and the four are named individually rather than by a general reference to the chapter — so the required content is fixed rather than left to the court’s selection.

The four cover the whole decision a jury makes. The definitions supply the meaning of fraud, malice, and gross negligence; the standards provision requires clear and convincing evidence and a unanimous verdict; the considerations provision lists the factors bearing on the amount; and the evidence provision governs what may be weighed in setting it.

Instruction matters more here than in most of a charge. Exemplary damages ask a jury to punish, on an elevated standard of proof, with a defined list of factors — none of which a juror would arrive knowing.

Note what is absent from the list: the cap. The limitation on the amount of recovery is not among the four sections, and the jury is not told about it — the court applies the cap to the verdict afterwards.

That is a deliberate choice. A jury told the maximum might treat it as a target, and a jury told a large award will be reduced might inflate it to compensate.

The bifurcated trial provision is the related mechanism, keeping evidence of net worth and of the defendant’s conduct out of the liability phase.