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If a jury is erroneously instructed that it must find the plaintiff was at least 51 percent responsible for causing an accident, and the jury then finds the plaintiff was 53 percent responsible, did the erroneous instruction constitute harmless error?

If a jury is erroneously instructed that it must find the plaintiff was at least 51 percent responsible for causing an accident, and the jury then finds the plaintiff was 53 percent responsible, did the erroneous instruction constitute harmless error? A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit confronts that question in a ruling issued today.

The majority holds that the instruction did not constitute harmless error, while the dissenting judge would hold that the instruction was harmless error since the jury found that the plaintiff was more than 51 percent at fault.

Full post as published by How Appealing on July 24, 2009 (boomark / email).