Section 2101 | CALCRIM (Jury Instructions)

act/[or] failed to perform [at least] one duty).
<Alternative A—unanimity required; see Bench Notes>
[You must all agree on which (act the defendant committed/ [or] duty
the defendant failed to perform).]
<Alternative B—unanimity not required; see Bench Notes>
[But you do not have to all agree on which (act the defendant
committed/ [or] duty the defendant failed to perform).]]
[Using ordinary care means using reasonable care to prevent reasonably
foreseeable harm to someone else. A person fails to exercise ordinary
care if he or she (does something that a reasonably careful person would
not do in the same situation/ [or] fails to do something that a reasonably
careful person would do in the same situation).]
[An act causes bodily injury to another person if the injury is the direct,
natural, and probable consequence of the act and the injury would not
have happened without the act. A natural and probable consequence is
one that a reasonable person would know is likely to happen if nothing
unusual intervenes. In deciding whether a consequence is natural and
probable, consider all of the circumstances established by the evidence.]
[There may be more than one cause of injury. An act causes bodily
injury to another person only if it is a substantial factor in causing the
injury. A substantial factor is more than a trivial or remote factor.
However, it need not be the only factor that causes the injury.]
New January 2006; Revised August 2006, April 2008, August 2015, March 2018,
September 2019
BENCH NOTES
Instructional Duty
The court has a sua sponte duty to give this instruction defining the elements of the
crime.
If the prosecution alleges under element 3 that the defendant committed an act
forbidden by law, the court has a sua sponte duty to specify the predicate offense
alleged and to instruct on the elements of that offense. (People v. Minor (1994) 28
Cal.App.4th 431, 438–439 [33 Cal.Rptr.2d 641]; People v. Ellis (1999) 69
Cal.App.4th 1334, 1339 [82 Cal.Rptr.2d 409].)
If the prosecution alleges under element 3 that the defendant neglected to perform a
duty imposed by law, the court has a sua sponte duty to instruct on the duty
allegedly neglected. (See People v. Minor, supra, 28 Cal.App.4th at pp. 438–439.) If
the prosecution alleges that the defendant neglected the general duty of every driver
to exercise ordinary care (see People v. Oyass (1985) 173 Cal.App.3d 663, 669 [219
VEHICLE OFFENSES
CALCRIM No. 2101
131

Cal.Rptr. 243]), the court should give the bracketed definition of “ordinary care.”
If causation is at issue, the court has a sua sponte duty to instruct on proximate
cause. (People v. Bernhardt (1963) 222 Cal.App.2d 567, 590–591 [35 Cal.Rptr.
401].) If the evidence indicates that there was only one cause of injury, the court
should give the first bracketed paragraph on causation, which includes the “direct,
natural, and probable” language. If there is evidence of multiple causes of injury, the
court should also give the second bracketed p