Pursuant to Chapter 99-225, Laws of Florida, effective October 1, 1999, in civil actions, the court is required to permit jurors to submit written questions to witnesses or the court. Counsel will be permitted to object to the questions outside the presence of the jury. The following is being reprinted for your use and assistance in complying with the new law.

CAUTIONARY INSTRUCTIONS.

Prior to permitting the submission of questions, the court should instruct the jury that:

A.  Questions should be reserved for important points only;

B.  The sole purpose of juror questions is to clarify the testimony, not to comment on it or express any opinion about it;

C.  Jurors are not to argue with the witness;

D.  Jurors are to remember that they are not advocates and must remain neutral fact finders;

E.  Jurors are not to reach any definite conclusions until the end of the case, after they have heard all of the evidence and arguments of counsel;

F.  There are some questions that the court will not ask, or will not ask in the form that a juror has written, because of the rules of evidence or other legal reasons, or because the question is; expected to be answered later in the case;

G. Jurors are to draw no inference if a question is not asked — it is no reflection on either the juror or the question;

H. Jurors are not to weigh the answers to their questions more heavily than other evidence in the
case;

I.  Questions will be accepted only in writing, at the court’s invitation, and are not to be disclosed; to other jurors; and

J. Any question must be submitted in writing to the court, with the juror’s signature or designated number affixed.

Instructions F, G and H should ordinarily be reiterated in the final jury charge.

If the court permits juror questioning:

A.  Upon receipt of a written question, the court should make it part of the court record and
disclose it to counsel outside the presence of the jury;

B.  Counsel must be given the opportunity, outside the hearing of the jury, to interpose
objections, including objections predicated on litigation strategy or stipulation of the parties;

C.  Counsel should have the opportunity to suggest modifications to the question;

D. The court should modify the question to eliminate any objectionable matter;

E.  The court may pose the question to the witness, or permit counsel to do so, at that time or
later; in so deciding, the court should consider whether counsel prefer to ask, or to have the
court ask, the question; and

F. After the question is answered, counsel should be given an opportunity to ask appropriate
follow-up questions.