The Privilege of Jury Duty

Oh the letter: you are Required to Report!

I may be an odd person out. I was excited to report for jury duty. I still feel it is the finest a person can do in giving back to a community.

So I am happy to report with a bit of Comedy and some seriousness. It was a while ago I served as and was nominated as Foreman of a Jury. Why was I nominated? Because, no one else on the Jury wanted to be the spokesperson. I was asking the questions and surveying the group and took it seriously. Next thing I knew they voted me as Foreman.

It was a civil case involving a car accident. An "Ambulance Chaser" Defense attorney and a corporate insurance company (Like GEICO etc.) and the defense of alleged injury and compensation for such.

So, yadda yadda, and yadda Yadah...It came down to essential facts of deprivation of income, etc. The attorney from the defense tried to present a 90% deprivation of physical capability regarding accident. There was no substantiation only suggestion. It was a Flyer.

So, yes, there was deprivation of income from Accident. Pay the guy. It worked out in our analysis to about 30K and that was it. Settle it and be done. Same as GEICO type person estimated loss and case was worth. BUT "Defense Injury Law Firm" probably said "Let's Pitch it" and see maybe a Jury will award u 300 billion or some absurd number. it failed on arrival.

What I found by serving on a jury is that perceptions of facts can take on really wild interpretations. For Example: I have a Cat. Therefore: one must dislike Dogs. One could be angry or a dislike of Dogs. This to show character, etc. Really? But yes, this can be brought in to impeach a person in a civil case. In this case the defendant attorney tried to bring in the unknown dislike of BMW cars by the accused. It was a Pitch.

Thank goodness such was not a component of this opinion I served to facilitate. But it is a lesson for all Trial Lawyers and their clients to review.

Again we found in favor of the Defendant. Gave him 30 grand in damages which was commensurate with the initial complaint.

I would do Jury duty again and really enjoyed it.