Jury Duty

 

It is hard to believe but I have only been called up to audition for jury duty one time in my life. I am a few days short of 73 years old and the last time I was selected was just before I turned 70. At 70, you can be automatically excluded if you wish. Out of a pool of a few hundred potential jurors, I was among 45 who had to endure the auditioning process.

The case involved injuries that occurred in an automobile accident. We were told that the evidence would include differing testimony from two neuroradiologists. So when the questioning of the potential jurors began, I was asked about my background. I told them that I had two sons, one who was an investigator for medical malpractice lawyers and one who was an orthopedic surgeon. I then said I was a radiologist and would be the perfect juror for the trial because I could fully understand the medical evidence to be considered.

I assumed I would be dismissed on that basis, but it actually took many long arduous hours before I was dismissed. After every potential juror was questioned, I knew who would be chosen. They were the dumbest people in the room. I don’t know if any juror chosen had an IQ over 100.

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  1. kedavis Coolidge
    kedavis
    @kedavis

    navyjag (View Comment):

    kedavis (View Comment):

    navyjag (View Comment):

    Southern Pessimist (View Comment):

    navyjag (View Comment):

    Recall only one really bad verdict in the Bay Area. And that was many years ago. Have had worse results from arbitrators.

    Are you saying that the Bay Area juries are especially wise or that you knew how to manipulate them. Why would arbitrators be wiser than citizens?

    Arbitrators are usually retired lawyers and judges. Lots of experience. And no juries to worry about. Not saying Bay Area juries any wiser; well, maybe the San Jose ones. San Francisco has lots of Asian jurors. Pretty good group. Just don’t like to give big verdicts, by and large. But might have an exception for them in February.

    What’s in Feb?

    A jury trial. Hopefully my next to last.

    That you’re also on the jury for?  or something else?

    • #31
  2. navyjag Coolidge
    navyjag
    @navyjag

    kedavis (View Comment):

    navyjag (View Comment):

    kedavis (View Comment):

    navyjag (View Comment):

    Southern Pessimist (View Comment):

    navyjag (View Comment):

    Recall only one really bad verdict in the Bay Area. And that was many years ago. Have had worse results from arbitrators.

    Are you saying that the Bay Area juries are especially wise or that you knew how to manipulate them. Why would arbitrators be wiser than citizens?

    Arbitrators are usually retired lawyers and judges. Lots of experience. And no juries to worry about. Not saying Bay Area juries any wiser; well, maybe the San Jose ones. San Francisco has lots of Asian jurors. Pretty good group. Just don’t like to give big verdicts, by and large. But might have an exception for them in February.

    What’s in Feb?

    A jury trial. Hopefully my next to last.

    That you’re also on the jury for? or something else?

    My case. 

    • #32
  3. kedavis Coolidge
    kedavis
    @kedavis

    navyjag (View Comment):

    kedavis (View Comment):

    navyjag (View Comment):

    kedavis (View Comment):

    navyjag (View Comment):

    Southern Pessimist (View Comment):

    navyjag (View Comment):

    Recall only one really bad verdict in the Bay Area. And that was many years ago. Have had worse results from arbitrators.

    Are you saying that the Bay Area juries are especially wise or that you knew how to manipulate them. Why would arbitrators be wiser than citizens?

    Arbitrators are usually retired lawyers and judges. Lots of experience. And no juries to worry about. Not saying Bay Area juries any wiser; well, maybe the San Jose ones. San Francisco has lots of Asian jurors. Pretty good group. Just don’t like to give big verdicts, by and large. But might have an exception for them in February.

    What’s in Feb?

    A jury trial. Hopefully my next to last.

    That you’re also on the jury for? or something else?

    My case.

    Oh, I didn’t realize that you were still practicing civilian law.  Unless you mean you’re the plaintiff, hoping the Asian jury will give you a big verdict.  :-)

    • #33
  4. navyjag Coolidge
    navyjag
    @navyjag

    kedavis (View Comment):

    navyjag (View Comment):

    kedavis (View Comment):

    navyjag (View Comment):

    kedavis (View Comment):

    navyjag (View Comment):

    Southern Pessimist (View Comment):

    navyjag (View Comment):

    Recall only one really bad verdict in the Bay Area. And that was many years ago. Have had worse results from arbitrators.

    Are you saying that the Bay Area juries are especially wise or that you knew how to manipulate them. Why would arbitrators be wiser than citizens?

    Arbitrators are usually retired lawyers and judges. Lots of experience. And no juries to worry about. Not saying Bay Area juries any wiser; well, maybe the San Jose ones. San Francisco has lots of Asian jurors. Pretty good group. Just don’t like to give big verdicts, by and large. But might have an exception for them in February.

    What’s in Feb?

    A jury trial. Hopefully my next to last.

    That you’re also on the jury for? or something else?

    My case.

    Oh, I didn’t realize that you were still practicing civilian law. Unless you mean you’re the plaintiff, hoping the Asian jury will give you a big verdict. :-)

    You are one very sharp guy.  And I appreciate all your spell checking on my posts.  Will let you know how it comes out. Involves a very big franchise restaurant. And a small business club located just below their plumbing. Can’t wait. 

    • #34
  5. kedavis Coolidge
    kedavis
    @kedavis

    navyjag (View Comment):

    kedavis (View Comment):

    navyjag (View Comment):

    kedavis (View Comment):

    navyjag (View Comment):

    kedavis (View Comment):

    navyjag (View Comment):

    Southern Pessimist (View Comment):

    navyjag (View Comment):

    Recall only one really bad verdict in the Bay Area. And that was many years ago. Have had worse results from arbitrators.

    Are you saying that the Bay Area juries are especially wise or that you knew how to manipulate them. Why would arbitrators be wiser than citizens?

    Arbitrators are usually retired lawyers and judges. Lots of experience. And no juries to worry about. Not saying Bay Area juries any wiser; well, maybe the San Jose ones. San Francisco has lots of Asian jurors. Pretty good group. Just don’t like to give big verdicts, by and large. But might have an exception for them in February.

    What’s in Feb?

    A jury trial. Hopefully my next to last.

    That you’re also on the jury for? or something else?

    My case.

    Oh, I didn’t realize that you were still practicing civilian law. Unless you mean you’re the plaintiff, hoping the Asian jury will give you a big verdict. :-)

    You are one very sharp guy. And I appreciate all your spell checking on my posts. Will let you know how it comes out. Involves a very big franchise restaurant. And a small business club located just below their plumbing. Can’t wait.

    Funny, there was an LA Law episode kinda similar.  It’s the one where Abby wound up shooting and killing her client. :-)

    I’m also following another incident through Steve Lehto’s YT channel where a Raising Cane’s chicken restaurant was going into a lease with a shopping center that didn’t tell them that they have a contract with McDonald’s that nobody else in the shopping center would be allowed to sell chicken.

    Some people think that’s Cane’s fault for not “discovering” it somehow, but I think them going into that shopping center would mean that the shopping center broke their contract with McDonald’s, and it’s no concern of Cane’s.

    The McDonald’s contract might be 20+ years old and maybe the landlord didn’t remember it, could be none of the same management people are even there any more.  But still THEIR problem, not Cane’s.

    I’m a little surprised at how many people disagree.  How – and WHY – is Cane’s supposed to examine every contract the shopping center has with any other tenant?

    And why would the shopping center ALLOW them to see all the contracts, anyway?  I wouldn’t be surprised if the contracts specify confidentiality.

    • #35
  6. navyjag Coolidge
    navyjag
    @navyjag

    kedavis (View Comment):

    navyjag (View Comment):

    kedavis (View Comment):

    navyjag (View Comment):

    kedavis (View Comment):

    navyjag (View Comment):

    kedavis (View Comment):

    navyjag (View Comment):

    Southern Pessimist (View Comment):

    navyjag (View Comment):

    Recall only one really bad verdict in the Bay Area. And that was many years ago. Have had worse results from arbitrators.

    Are you saying that the Bay Area juries are especially wise or that you knew how to manipulate them. Why would arbitrators be wiser than citizens?

    Arbitrators are usually retired lawyers and judges. Lots of experience. And no juries to worry about. Not saying Bay Area juries any wiser; well, maybe the San Jose ones. San Francisco has lots of Asian jurors. Pretty good group. Just don’t like to give big verdicts, by and large. But might have an exception for them in February.

    What’s in Feb?

    A jury trial. Hopefully my next to last.

    That you’re also on the jury for? or something else?

    My case.

    Oh, I didn’t realize that you were still practicing civilian law. Unless you mean you’re the plaintiff, hoping the Asian jury will give you a big verdict. :-)

    You are one very sharp guy. And I appreciate all your spell checking on my posts. Will let you know how it comes out. Involves a very big franchise restaurant. And a small business club located just below their plumbing. Can’t wait.

    Funny, there was an LA Law episode kinda similar. It’s the one where Abby wound up shooting and killing her client. :-)

    I’m also following another incident through Steve Lehto’s YT channel where a Raising Cane’s chicken restaurant was going into a lease with a shopping center that didn’t tell them that they have a contract with McDonald’s that nobody else in the shopping center would be allowed to sell chicken.

    Some people think that’s Cane’s fault for not “discovering” it somehow, but I think them going into that shopping center would mean that the shopping center broke their contract with McDonald’s, and it’s no concern of Cane’s.

    The McDonald’s contract might be 20+ years old and maybe the landlord didn’t remember it, could be none of the same management people are even there any more. But still THEIR problem, not Cane’s.

    I’m a little surprised at how many people disagree. How – and WHY – is Cane’s supposed to examine every contract the shopping center has with any other tenant?

    And why would the shopping center ALLOW them to see all the contracts, anyway? I wouldn’t be surprised if the contracts specify confidentiality.

    Believe it or not the shopping center case got into our case on an appeal. And we came out ok. Now it’s trying to get SF citizens to give our client some compensation. Will let you know what happens. 

    • #36
  7. kedavis Coolidge
    kedavis
    @kedavis

    • #37
  8. RushBabe49 Thatcher
    RushBabe49
    @RushBabe49

    I was last on jury duty in the late 1970s in Seattle Municipal Court. I was on three trials and it was very interesting. I am retired now and would like to be called. Can you ask the county to put you at the top of the list?  Or do you just have to wait for the luck of the draw?

    • #38
  9. DMak Member
    DMak
    @DMak

    I was last called several months ago. It was a Federal murder case. I had the opposite experience. I found most of the jurors chosen to be well-informed, thoughtful, and quite sharp. In any case, I was not chosen. By the time I and ten others were called into the courtroom, it was down to selecting the last alternate juror.

    And years and years before that, I received a summons from the county superior court. I responded with a request to be excused, citing the fact that I was not a US citizen.

     

    • #39
  10. Bartholomew Xerxes Ogilvie, Jr. Coolidge
    Bartholomew Xerxes Ogilvie, Jr.
    @BartholomewXerxesOgilvieJr

    I have been a registered voter since 1983, and yet I have never been called for jury duty. I can only conclude from this that I have no peers.

    • #40
  11. Dominique Prynne Member
    Dominique Prynne
    @DominiquePrynne

    I served 23 years ago as an alternate on a capital murder trial in Texas. 

    A young man pulled his car into his parent’s driveway late one night because he was having car trouble.  His parent’s lived on the main thoroughfare in our town.  Four teenagers (two males and two females) were riding around and saw the young man with the hood up checking his car and pulled in behind him.   When they pulled into the driveway, the man in front seat of the car pulled out a gun and gave it to the man in the backseat and told him to go rob him.  He did and ended up shooting the young man in the head and robbing him of $7.  The caliber of the gun was very small and the bullet didn’t even fracture the victim’s skull.  Essentially, the young man bled out in his parent’s driveway and died.  The 17-year-old teen that handed off the gun to the shooter was the defendant in my trial.  (He had an amazing criminal history for one so young)  Because I was the alternate, I was dismissed before deliberations.  The jury found the defendant guilty and imposed the death penalty – because – Texas.  The death penalty was later belayed by the U.S. Supreme Court when they found that a minor, tried as an adult, could not be subjected to the death penalty so his sentence was reduced to 40 years.    

    Interesting side note – one of the girls in the car who was the girlfriend of the defendant was originally from VA where her father was an FBI agent.  She testified that she ended up in Texas because she didn’t like her dad’s rules and she, as a teenager, “ran away” to her mom’s residence in Texas. Dad didn’t not pursue her return to VA.  She testified that her mom let her do what she wanted and she ended up hooked up with these people.  She cried on the stand and said she regretted her choices and her dad had been right.  She had pleaded to a 25-year sentence for her participation in the crime.    I wish she could go around and tell her story to every middle school!

    • #41
  12. Charlotte Member
    Charlotte
    @Charlotte

    I’ve served on two juries in the past twenty years, both criminal trials, in two different jurisdictions. Both experiences were overwhelmingly positive – I was impressed with the process and most of the people involved, start to finish.

    I think it’s tacky to try to get out of jury duty. It’s really a pretty minor ask. And it’s especially tacky if you are both a) complaining about jury quality, and b) thinking of ways to get out of jury duty.

    • #42
  13. kedavis Coolidge
    kedavis
    @kedavis

    Bartholomew Xerxes Ogilvie, Jr. (View Comment):

    I have been a registered voter since 1983, and yet I have never been called for jury duty. I can only conclude from this that I have no peers.

    Which could be good OR bad…

    • #43
  14. Bryan G. Stephens Thatcher
    Bryan G. Stephens
    @BryanGStephens

    I have only been called once, I got to serve, and I felt honored to do so. In fact, I was forman. 

     

    • #44
  15. Annefy Member
    Annefy
    @Annefy

    Bryan G. Stephens (View Comment):

    I have only been called once, I got to serve, and I felt honored to do so. In fact, I was forman.

     

    My experience in the criminal trial I worked on was that the jury was revered. Everyone in the courtroom stood up every single time the jury entered and exited the courtroom. And regardless of how they were treated by the defense attorney, my impression was that they were thoughtful and serious.

    The defense team (that I was working on) also stood up – mainly because I was throwing elbows and kicking shins and hissing “stand up”. The defendant was usually busy playing candy crush on his phone, while his attorney was playing spider solitaire. 

    • #45
  16. Quietpi Member
    Quietpi
    @Quietpi

    Received jury summonses several times, but only once was I not waived off before the fateful day.  Turns out it fell the week after a three-month jury trial, on which I worked, concluded.  

    The day of the summons, I was walking to the jury assembly area, and passed the bailiff for the same courtroom where I had spent so much time.  Seeing me, he burst out laughing.  “What the heck?” “You’ll see,” said he.  

    Sure enough, I was sent to the same courtroom.  I never made it to the jury box.  The jury was empaneled, and the rest of us were dismissed.  As I was getting up to leave, the judge called from the bench, “Hey, QuietPI!  What are you doing here?”  “Just doing my civic duty, Your Honor.”  

    My father-in-law seemed to get a summons on a surprisingly frequent basis, and always seemed to make it to the jury box.  As soon as they heard his occupation, though (college professor), he was quickly dismissed.  Until his occupation changed to “retired.”  Got selected.  

    My brother, on the other hand, has been called a couple times, and was selected every time.  The only one of our siblings without at least a bachelor’s degree, he’s acknowledge by all of us as the smartest of the litter.  Very tall, skinny as can be (an avid bicyclist all his life), and sort of scruffy – looking, some might identify him as a drug addict.   Occupation truck driver.   It was a drug case, the location a park a block from his home.  Yes, he knew two of the police officers, and they had in fact been high school classmates.  As close as we can figure, the defense attorney must have taken one look and decided that his contact with the officers since high school could not have been on favorable terms, because he left him on the jury.  Foreman.  Guilty to the sheet, as they say.  

    • #46
  17. Southern Pessimist Member
    Southern Pessimist
    @SouthernPessimist

    In any trial of monetary or political significance, the composition of the jury will be decided long before the jury is impaneled. Within hours of the potential jurors being summoned everything they have ever posted on social media will be known to both teams of lawyers. If is nothing posted on any site, they will be automatically excused. In any trial of real significance, competent trial attorneys will know more about you than anyone other than your spouse or priest, and I am not so sure about either of those two sources.

    • #47
  18. Painter Jean Moderator
    Painter Jean
    @PainterJean

    Reading the comments here, I can’t help notice both the low opinion of juries and the attitude that jury duty is something to get out of. Might these be related? If none of you want to sit on a jury and devise creative ways to avoid it, isn’t that going to mean that juries will consist of those who weren’t intelligent enough to get themselves dismissed?

    Just sayin’…

    • #48
  19. Southern Pessimist Member
    Southern Pessimist
    @SouthernPessimist

    Painter Jean (View Comment):

    Reading the comments here, I can’t help notice both the low opinion of juries and the attitude that jury duty is something to get out of. Might these be related? If none of you want to sit on a jury and devise creative ways to avoid it, isn’t that going to mean that juries will consist of those who weren’t intelligent enough to get themselves dismissed?

    Just sayin’…

    I did not want to get out of jury duty but the system determined that I was overqualified. I was actually capable of understanding the issues involved.

    • #49
  20. MWD B612 "Dawg" Member
    MWD B612 "Dawg"
    @danok1

    Painter Jean (View Comment):

    Reading the comments here, I can’t help notice both the low opinion of juries and the attitude that jury duty is something to get out of. Might these be related? If none of you want to sit on a jury and devise creative ways to avoid it, isn’t that going to mean that juries will consist of those who weren’t intelligent enough to get themselves dismissed?

    Just sayin’…

    I gave truthful answers to the questions posed. Not my problem that the lawyers didn’t want me, nor my fault that my experience disqualified me.

    • #50
  21. Southern Pessimist Member
    Southern Pessimist
    @SouthernPessimist

    MWD B612 "Dawg" (View Comment):

    Painter Jean (View Comment):

    Reading the comments here, I can’t help notice both the low opinion of juries and the attitude that jury duty is something to get out of. Might these be related? If none of you want to sit on a jury and devise creative ways to avoid it, isn’t that going to mean that juries will consist of those who weren’t intelligent enough to get themselves dismissed?

    Just sayin’…

    I gave truthful answers to the questions posed. Not my problem that the lawyers didn’t want me, nor my fault that my experience disqualified me.

    No one would blame you but perhaps we should blame a system that disqualifies jurors based on a profile of education, wealth and politically correct social media activity.

    • #51
  22. kedavis Coolidge
    kedavis
    @kedavis

    Southern Pessimist (View Comment):

    MWD B612 "Dawg" (View Comment):

    Painter Jean (View Comment):

    Reading the comments here, I can’t help notice both the low opinion of juries and the attitude that jury duty is something to get out of. Might these be related? If none of you want to sit on a jury and devise creative ways to avoid it, isn’t that going to mean that juries will consist of those who weren’t intelligent enough to get themselves dismissed?

    Just sayin’…

    I gave truthful answers to the questions posed. Not my problem that the lawyers didn’t want me, nor my fault that my experience disqualified me.

    No one would blame you but perhaps we should blame a system that disqualifies jurors based on a profile of education, wealth and politically correct social media activity.

    Maybe it should be more possible to challenge “peremptory” exclusions?

    I think they can already do that if it looks like one side is arbitrarily excluding by race or something, can’t they?  Or is that up to the judge?

    • #52
  23. Southern Pessimist Member
    Southern Pessimist
    @SouthernPessimist

    kedavis (View Comment):

    Southern Pessimist (View Comment):

    MWD B612 "Dawg" (View Comment):

    Painter Jean (View Comment):

    Reading the comments here, I can’t help notice both the low opinion of juries and the attitude that jury duty is something to get out of. Might these be related? If none of you want to sit on a jury and devise creative ways to avoid it, isn’t that going to mean that juries will consist of those who weren’t intelligent enough to get themselves dismissed?

    Just sayin’…

    I gave truthful answers to the questions posed. Not my problem that the lawyers didn’t want me, nor my fault that my experience disqualified me.

    No one would blame you but perhaps we should blame a system that disqualifies jurors based on a profile of education, wealth and politically correct social media activity.

    Maybe it should be more possible to challenge “peremptory” exclusions?

    I think they can already do that if it looks like one side is arbitrarily excluding by race or something, can’t they? Or is that up to the judge?

    I am not an expert in this field although my son is. My sense is that the vast majority of juried court cases are slam dunks greased through the system by controlling every possible variable and that is most easily accomplished by limiting the jury pool. Preemptory exclusions make the game interesting but they are limited to just a few.

    • #53
  24. kedavis Coolidge
    kedavis
    @kedavis

    Southern Pessimist (View Comment):

    kedavis (View Comment):

    Southern Pessimist (View Comment):

    MWD B612 "Dawg" (View Comment):

    Painter Jean (View Comment):

    Reading the comments here, I can’t help notice both the low opinion of juries and the attitude that jury duty is something to get out of. Might these be related? If none of you want to sit on a jury and devise creative ways to avoid it, isn’t that going to mean that juries will consist of those who weren’t intelligent enough to get themselves dismissed?

    Just sayin’…

    I gave truthful answers to the questions posed. Not my problem that the lawyers didn’t want me, nor my fault that my experience disqualified me.

    No one would blame you but perhaps we should blame a system that disqualifies jurors based on a profile of education, wealth and politically correct social media activity.

    Maybe it should be more possible to challenge “peremptory” exclusions?

    I think they can already do that if it looks like one side is arbitrarily excluding by race or something, can’t they? Or is that up to the judge?

    I am not an expert in this field although my son is. My sense is that the vast majority of juried court cases are slam dunks greased through the system by controlling every possible variable and that is most easily accomplished by limiting the jury pool. Preemptory exclusions make the game interesting but they are limited to just a few.

    Yes just a few, and it’s supposed to be without any explanation etc, but still, if they see either side is using those to exclude only black people, etc, isn’t it still subject to some “oversight?”

    • #54
  25. Southern Pessimist Member
    Southern Pessimist
    @SouthernPessimist

    kedavis (View Comment):

    Southern Pessimist (View Comment):

    kedavis (View Comment):

    Southern Pessimist (View Comment):

    MWD B612 "Dawg" (View Comment):

    Painter Jean (View Comment):

    Reading the comments here, I can’t help notice both the low opinion of juries and the attitude that jury duty is something to get out of. Might these be related? If none of you want to sit on a jury and devise creative ways to avoid it, isn’t that going to mean that juries will consist of those who weren’t intelligent enough to get themselves dismissed?

    Just sayin’…

    I gave truthful answers to the questions posed. Not my problem that the lawyers didn’t want me, nor my fault that my experience disqualified me.

    No one would blame you but perhaps we should blame a system that disqualifies jurors based on a profile of education, wealth and politically correct social media activity.

    Maybe it should be more possible to challenge “peremptory” exclusions?

    I think they can already do that if it looks like one side is arbitrarily excluding by race or something, can’t they? Or is that up to the judge?

    I am not an expert in this field although my son is. My sense is that the vast majority of juried court cases are slam dunks greased through the system by controlling every possible variable and that is most easily accomplished by limiting the jury pool. Preemptory exclusions make the game interesting but they are limited to just a few.

    Yes just a few, and it’s supposed to be without any explanation etc, but still, if they see either side is using those to exclude only black people, etc, isn’t it still subject to some “oversight?”

    They don’t exclude jurors based on race but based on anticipated intelligence.

    • #55
  26. Southern Pessimist Member
    Southern Pessimist
    @SouthernPessimist

    I was excluded from serving on a jury because I was an expert that had not been paid by one side or the other and they could not let that happen.

    I guess that what it means when juries are defined by your peers.

    • #56
  27. MWD B612 "Dawg" Member
    MWD B612 "Dawg"
    @danok1

    Southern Pessimist (View Comment):

    MWD B612 "Dawg" (View Comment):

    Painter Jean (View Comment):

    Reading the comments here, I can’t help notice both the low opinion of juries and the attitude that jury duty is something to get out of. Might these be related? If none of you want to sit on a jury and devise creative ways to avoid it, isn’t that going to mean that juries will consist of those who weren’t intelligent enough to get themselves dismissed?

    Just sayin’…

    I gave truthful answers to the questions posed. Not my problem that the lawyers didn’t want me, nor my fault that my experience disqualified me.

    No one would blame you but perhaps we should blame a system that disqualifies jurors based on a profile of education, wealth and politically correct social media activity.

    TBR, I can see excluding me on the criminal cases because of the military police thing. The dismissal because my wife would give birth during the trial made sense.

    • #57
  28. Steve Fast Member
    Steve Fast
    @SteveFast

    I had a small oil and gas client who got sued by a mid-major oil producer for non-payment of an invoice that we clearly should not have had to pay. The case involved issues of contract interpretation, but our highly regarded attorney and her jury consultant decided that we would be best served by a jury of low intelligence. They thought that low-intelligence jurors would be sympathetic to a small company, even if they couldn’t understand the contractual language. We lost.

    When the attorneys talked to the jurors in the lobby after the case, one juror said that she had tried to convince the other jurors that our interpretation of the contract was correct but that they couldn’t understand it. They had felt that if they had to pay their bills that we should pay our bill, so they voted against us. For low-intelligence jurors, it was that simple.

    I think that a smart jury would have understood the contractual interpretation and agreed with us. I’ve been really disillusioned with the legal system after that case.

    • #58
  29. kedavis Coolidge
    kedavis
    @kedavis

    Steve Fast (View Comment):

    I had a small oil and gas client who got sued by a mid-major oil producer for non-payment of an invoice that we clearly should not have had to pay. The case involved issues of contract interpretation, but our highly regarded attorney and her jury consultant decided that we would be best served by a jury of low intelligence. They thought that low-intelligence jurors would be sympathetic to a small company, even if they couldn’t understand the contractual language. We lost.

    When the attorneys talked to the jurors in the lobby after the case, one juror said that she had tried to convince the other jurors that our interpretation of the contract was correct but that they couldn’t understand it. They had felt that if they had to pay their bills that we should pay our bill, so they voted against us. For low-intelligence jurors, it was that simple.

    I think that a smart jury would have understood the contractual interpretation and agreed with us. I’ve been really disillusioned with the legal system after that case.

    Shoulda gotten the judgement paid by the lawyer’s malpractice insurance.

    • #59
  30. Steve Fast Member
    Steve Fast
    @SteveFast

    kedavis (View Comment):

    Steve Fast (View Comment):

    I had a small oil and gas client who got sued by a mid-major oil producer for non-payment of an invoice that we clearly should not have had to pay. The case involved issues of contract interpretation, but our highly regarded attorney and her jury consultant decided that we would be best served by a jury of low intelligence. They thought that low-intelligence jurors would be sympathetic to a small company, even if they couldn’t understand the contractual language. We lost.

    When the attorneys talked to the jurors in the lobby after the case, one juror said that she had tried to convince the other jurors that our interpretation of the contract was correct but that they couldn’t understand it. They had felt that if they had to pay their bills that we should pay our bill, so they voted against us. For low-intelligence jurors, it was that simple.

    I think that a smart jury would have understood the contractual interpretation and agreed with us. I’ve been really disillusioned with the legal system after that case.

    Shoulda gotten the judgement paid by the lawyer’s malpractice insurance.

    My client had no assets left by the time the verdict was rendered, having made a series of bad oil and gas investments. The large oil company then spent several months combing through my client’s financials trying to find assets that they could seize. I got deposed on the details of my client’s financial statements and assets. After spending an inordinate sum on accountants and lawyers, they realized that we had nothing. Thankfully I got paid, but our attorney and her jury consultant got stiffed for over $100K in legal bills. I think my client only fought the case out of a sense of pride since they had nothing to lose. I was the only one involved who didn’t lose financially.

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