9.38 - 1. Law To Be Applied In The Case

• Jurisdiction: New York

1. Law to Be Applied in the Case

If you fail to object successfully to an erroneous jury charge, you may not object to the error on appeal. As noted in above, the N.Y. Court of Appeals, in explaining the proper use of the doctrine of the law to be applied in the case, held that “parties to a civil litigation, in the absence of a strong countervailing public policy, may consent, formally or by their conduct, to the law to be applied.”²¹⁷⁹ Thus, if you fail to object to an erroneous jury charge and lose the case, in part because of that charge, you are stuck with that charge on appeal in the absence of...