The Georgia Court of Appeals has stepped in to clear up the “preponderance” standard for jury charges in civil cases, in an opinion written by Presiding Judge Stephen Dillard. He sought to dispel lingering confusion after Georgia’s new Rules of Evidence did away with the old standard for jury charges but didn’t replace it.

The net effect of Dillard’s opinion, issued Tuesday, appears to be that the language of jury instructions has to make clear that the preponderance of evidence is a lower standard than one that may be present in the minds of nonlawyers serving on Georgia juries.