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California's official civil jury instructions, one plain-English explainer at a time.
CACI stands for Judicial Council of California Civil Jury Instructions. These are the official instructions California judges read to civil juries. Most tell jurors what a party has to prove on a claim or defense, or how to measure money damages. A task force appointed by the Chief Justice in 1997 wrote the set to be accurate and understandable to an average juror, and the instructions were first published in September 2003. The Judicial Council's Advisory Committee on Civil Jury Instructions now maintains them and publishes a new edition each year, plus a midyear supplement.
Rule 2.1050 of the California Rules of Court makes the Judicial Council instructions the official instructions for use in California and says their use is strongly encouraged. They are still a summary of the law and not the law itself. Statutes and court decisions control, and each instruction lists the statutes and cases behind it.
Most instructions have a common layout. The instruction text is what the jury hears, written with bracketed blanks for party names and options. The Directions for Use tell the judge and lawyers when to give the instruction, what to change, and which related instructions go with it. The Sources and Authority section collects the statutes and appellate decisions the instruction rests on, and a Secondary Sources list points to treatises. Some instructions skip one of these parts.
Instructions are numbered by series. The 400s cover negligence, the 1000s cover premises liability, the 300s cover contracts, the 1900s cover fraud, the 3700s cover an employer's or principal's responsibility for someone else's conduct, and the 3900s cover damages. A number such as 3905A marks one of several related instructions in the same spot.
Each page below takes one instruction or a small group that works together. It sets out the elements in plain language, notes what the Directions for Use say about when the instruction applies, and points to the statutes and cases most often cited with it. Every page names the edition it was checked against. The current set was checked against the 2026 edition and the July 2026 supplement.
These pages are legal information for readers trying to understand a California civil case. They do not replace the official text, and nothing here is advice about a particular case. A trial lawyer drafting instructions should start from the official edition on the California courts website, linked on every page.
CACI No. 400 lists what a California plaintiff must prove to win a negligence claim. CACI No. 401 gives the meaning of negligence: falling short of the care a reasonably careful person would take in the same position.
California only. These are California's official civil jury instructions, and other states word their negligence instructions differently.
CACI No. 430 is California's definition of causation. Conduct counts as a substantial factor when a reasonable person would see it as playing a part in the harm and its role was more than remote or trivial. Other causes can share in the harm.
California only. Other states phrase causation in their own pattern instructions.
CACI No. 405 lets a defendant reduce an award by proving the plaintiff's own negligence helped cause the harm. CACI No. 406 has the jury assign a percentage of responsibility to everyone at fault, including people who are not in the courtroom.
California only. California uses pure comparative fault; many other states bar recovery once the plaintiff's share reaches 50 or 51 percent.
CACI No. 418 tells a California jury that if a party broke a safety law and the violation helped cause the harm, the jury must find that party negligent unless the violation was excused. CACI Nos. 419, 420 and 421 handle admitted violations, excuses and minors.
California only. The presumption comes from California Evidence Code section 669, and other states give a broken statute different weight.
CACI No. 1000 lists what a California plaintiff hurt on someone else's property must prove. The instructions that follow it explain the owner's duty, what counts as an unsafe condition, how an owner can be charged with knowledge of a hazard, and what changes when the danger is obvious.
California only. Cases against public entities follow separate dangerous-condition instructions starting at CACI No. 1100.
CACI No. 303 lists what a California plaintiff must prove to recover damages for breach of contract: a contract, the plaintiff's own performance or excuse, any required conditions, the defendant's breach, harm, and causation. CACI Nos. 300 and 302 frame the case and cover formation when it is disputed.
California only. Contract elements are similar across states, but each state's courts word them and apply them in their own way.
The CACI 3900 series tells California jurors how to turn a finding of liability into a dollar figure. The plaintiff does not have to prove an exact amount, but jurors may not speculate, and they must state economic and non-economic damages separately.
California only. Damages rules, including caps and how medical bills are measured, differ from state to state.
CACI No. 3921 tells a California jury how to measure damages when a family sues over the death of an adult. It allows lost financial support, gifts, funeral costs, household services and the loss of the person's love and companionship, and it tells jurors to leave out grief, the decedent's own pain and the family's wealth.
California only. California's wrongful death claim is set by statute, and other states define the eligible family members and damages differently.
The CACI 3700 series tells California jurors when an employer or principal must pay for harm caused by someone working for it. The plaintiff has to show the relationship and that the person was acting within the scope of employment or authority when the harm happened.
California only. Each state sets its own test for scope of employment, and liability created by statute, such as under the Fair Employment and Housing Act, may follow different rules.
California's fraud instructions describe four related claims: a knowing lie, concealment of a fact, a promise made with no intent to keep it, and a statement made without reasonable grounds. Each one also requires harm, and a link between the plaintiff's reaction and that harm.
California only. California's fraud instructions track Civil Code sections 1709 and 1710; other states define the elements in their own case law and pattern instructions.
California's punitive damages instructions let a jury punish and deter only when the plaintiff proves malice, oppression or fraud by clear and convincing evidence. The jury then weighs how reprehensible the conduct was, how the award relates to the harm, and the defendant's financial condition.
California only. Punitive damages follow Civil Code sections 3294 and 3295 in California; other states set their own standards and some cap the amount.