Chapter 19 - § 19.8 OBJECTIONS TO INSTRUCTIONS

• Jurisdiction: Colorado

§ 19.8 OBJECTIONS TO INSTRUCTIONS

Colorado

➢ General. ". . . All instructions shall be submitted to the parties, who shall make all objections thereto before they are given to the jury. Only the grounds so specified shall be considered on motion for a new trial or on appeal or certiorari. . . ." C.R.C.P. 51.
➢ Objection; General. A general objection to a jury instruction is insufficient to preserve issues for appellate review. D.R. Horton, Inc. v. Bischof & Coffman Constr., LLC, 217 P.3d 1262 (Colo. App. 2009); Beeftu v. Creekside Ventures, LLC, 37 P.3d 526, 529 (Colo. App. 2001).

➢ Objections; Specific. Objections must be specific to preserve the objection for appeal. Qwest Servs. Corp. v. Blood, 252 P.3d 1071, 1087 (Colo. 2011); Blue Flame Gas, Inc. v. Van Hoose, 679 P.2d 579, 586-87 (Colo. 1984); D.R. Horton, 217 P.3d 1262 (general objection that states no ground of error is equivalent to no objection at all because it deprives trial court of any meaningful opportunity to correct its own error).

➢ Objections; Timing. C.R.C.P. 51 mandates that a party must raise objections to jury instructions before the case is submitted to the jury. C.R.C.P. 51; Harris Group, Inc. v. Robinson, 209 P.3d 1188 (Colo. App. 2009); Nichols v. Burlington N. & S.F. Ry., 148 P.3d 212, 215 (Colo. App. 2006) (rule applies to special verdict forms as well); Allen v. American Family Mut. Ins. Co., 80 P.3d 799, 804 (Colo. App. 2002), aff'd and rev'd on other grounds, 102 P.3d 333 (Colo. 2004). A general objection to an instruction is not sufficient to preserve a specific objection for appeal; instead, counsel must specify grounds of objections for consideration of the court. Vikell Investors Pac., Inc. v. Kip Hampden Ltd., 946 P.2d 589, 596 (Colo. App. 1997).

➢ Objections; Timing. The principle of requiring contemporaneous objection is to enable the trial judge "to clarify or correct misleading or erroneous instructions before they are given to jury, thereby preventing costly retrials necessitated by obvious and prejudicial errors." First Nat'l Bank v. Campbell, 599 P.2d 915, 916 (Colo. 1979); D.R. Horton, 217 P.3d 1262; Nichols, 148 P.3d at 215; Martin v. Minnard, 862 P.2d 1014, 1018 (Colo. App. 1993).

➢ Objections Waived if Not Made. If objections or errors are not called to the attention of the court at the time they are made, ordinarily they will be deemed waived. Ross v. Colorado Nat'l Bank, 463 P.2d 882, 885 (Colo. 1969); Harris Group, 209 P.3d 1188; Martin, 862 P.2d at 1018; see Qwest Servs. Corp., 252 P.3d at 1087-88.

➢ Objection; Failure to Give Instruction. Absent a showing of substantial prejudicial error, a trial court's refusal to give requested jury instructions does not warrant reversal of a judgment. Harris Group, 209 P.3d 1188; Vista Resorts, Inc. v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., 117 P.3d 60, 70 (Colo. App. 2004).
➢ Objection Made for First Time on Appeal. Ordinarily in civil cases, objections made to instructions for the first time on appeal will receive no consideration by an appellate court.

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