Rule 51.Instructions to jury; objections

Jury instructions come in stages under Rule 51. Right after the jury is sworn and before opening statements, the court can give preliminary instructions covering the jurors' duties and conduct, the order of the proceedings, the elements and burden of proof for the claims involved, and definitions of key terms — plus anything the parties have stipulated to or that the court thinks will help the jurors follow the case. During trial, the court can give interim instructions on the law when they'll help jurors understand what's happening, and a party can ask for one. At the close of the evidence, the court gives final instructions covering whatever's needed to send the case to the jury properly. Parties file their requested instructions at the final pretrial conference or another time the court sets, and have to back up any instruction tied to a statute, rule, or case with a citation or copy of it.

Instructions should be in writing whenever that's practical, with at least one written copy going to the jury and additional copies available to any juror who asks. Objecting to a written instruction has to happen before it's given to the jury; objecting to an oral instruction can happen after it's given but before the jury retires to deliberate, and the court has to give the parties a chance to object outside the jury's hearing. An unchallenged instruction — or an unrequested one — generally can't be raised as error on appeal unless letting it stand would be a manifest injustice, so an objection has to identify both the specific problem and the grounds for it. Once final instructions are given, the parties argue the case to the jury, and the court has to stay out of commenting on the evidence — if it does mention any of the evidence, it must remind the jurors that they alone decide the facts.