Patrick Montoya Appointed to Standard Jury Instructions Committee
by Brian Eckert
Milberg Senior Partner Patrick Montoya has been appointed to the Florida Supreme Court Committee on Standard Jury Instructions in Civil Cases.
This is Mr. Montoya’s first appointment to the Committee, which was established in 1962 “for the study and development of a program for standard jury instructions.” He was named a member by the Florida Supreme Court Justice to serve an initial 3-year term that begins on January 1, 2023 and ends on December 31, 2025.
Mr. Montoya said on his LinkedIn page that he looks forward to working with other Committee members to ensure that litigants and jurors receive jury instructions that are fair and just.
The committee shall continuously review statutes and judicial decisions to ensure that the standard jury instructions are up to date.
The Committee is responsible for preparing standard jury instructions to be used in civil cases, including oaths, preliminary instructions, evidence instructions, damages, and closing instructions. According to an administrative order announcing the Committee members, in carrying out its responsibilities, “the committee shall continuously review statutes and judicial decisions to ensure that the standard jury instructions are up to date.”
Members meet several times per year to review and amend the jury instructions used in Florida civil courts, with substantive work done in subcommittees on eminent domain, employment, negligence, products liability, and other areas of civil law. Subcommittees present reports at Commission meetings and may give proposals to amend certain jury instructions. The Committee votes on proposals and, if approved, the proposals are then published for public comment prior to the Committee’s final approval.
Mr. Montoya joined Milberg in 2022. He has more than two decades of experience practicing law in the areas of complex litigation, class action and commercial litigation, products liability, personal injury, construction law, and toxic torts. He serves on the Board of Directors of the Miami-Dade Trial Lawyers and previously served on the Board of Governors for the American Association for Justice and as President of the Inns of Courts Chapter, Dade County Chapter. He has been selected to Super Lawyers for the last 10 years and was named a 2020 Lawdragon 500 Leading Plaintiff Consumer Lawyer.
