Converse Instructions under MAI

The true converse instruction incorporates and thereby points to one or more elements of the verdict director and reiterates the obvious result of the plaintiff failing to prove one or more of the elements of his verdict director. Thus, it is obvious that the court could send a complete and logical set of instructions to the jury without including a converse instruction. In this respect, converse instructions are "excess baggage" in the package of instructions which goes to the jury. The MAI3 system acknowledges this fact by making the use of converse instructions optional with the defendant.