Just another odd question that struck me. In a suit to try title by trespass, and not any litigation tied to fraud or gross negligence, but a simple trial to resolve a boundary line dispute. Are these usually judge, or jury trials?
Does it differ from state to state, or jurisdiction??
In Montana you can request either.
If is a highly emotional case jury might be the way to go. If it's got alot of technical?ÿ aspects maybe a bench judgement is the way to go
Do you want to convince one person or twelve I'd take my Lawyer's advice.
As the saying goes, do you want your case decided by 12 people who weren't smart enough to get out of jury duty?
I'm not sure how many times I've been to court, maybe six times??ÿ Always been a judge.?ÿ I think they discourage jury trials because of the extra hassle and cost.
As the saying goes, do you want your case decided by 12 people who weren't smart enough to get out of jury duty?
Now, now, I get paid whether I serve or not.
The easiest way to get out of jury duty is to tell the judge that you are a firm believer in jury nullification, which I am.
Hoping to be challenged, I tried to get out of Jury duty once by wearing a suit, carrying a newspaper and trying to look very conservative.
They made me Foreman 🙂
?ÿ
I don't know why someone would try to get out of Jury Duty.
If you want to have a decent society then you have to be good citizens.?ÿ Part of that is serving on a Jury.
I have been summoned several times.?ÿ Sacramento County has a call in and internet based service where you check your number to see which day you have to appear.?ÿ You have to be available for one week so you check Sunday night after 5pm and it might say check back Wednesday at 5pm.?ÿ Sometimes it says you aren't needed so your obligation is discharged for two years or sometimes you have to appear for one day.?ÿ In the past 20 years I have had to appear in the Jury Room three times which resulted in being sent to a Court Room for the first time on the third appearance.?ÿ I was one of the lucky ones that got picked for the Jury.?ÿ Most people who get sent to the Court Room are dismissed by one of the Attorneys or never make it out of the gallery.
I was picked for our County grand jury last year, it was actually quite interesting (there is alot more meth in our community then I ever knew, and hell, now I even know how to cook it).?ÿ Like Dave said, it's important to serve to keep our legal system running.?ÿ If I ever went to court, I'd want to know that the jury is made up of my peers.
I don't know why someone would try to get out of Jury Duty.
?ÿ
I generally agree, but in my case the trial was set down for three weeks, and actually took four.
That's four weeks of not working, and the jury stipend is way less than minimum wage. Any one of the lawyers present made more in an hour than we did in a week.
Why would one avoid jury duty? economics, pure and simple...
?ÿ
?ÿ
Jury duty is a civic duty. The stipend is intended to offset actual expenditures. While it may be popular to avoid serving, such actions are one reason some communities are rat holes.
Why would one avoid jury duty? economics, pure and simple...
?ÿ
?ÿ
Being able to defer to the "off-season" is an important part of the system, at least here. I've always been able to defer a summer jury call to winter. For others, I'm sure they'd want to defer winter to summer. Where I live, some make most of their money in the winter (North Slope oil); others make most of it in the summer.
I always laugh when I hear what people will say to get out of jury duty.?ÿ All sorts of good ones.?ÿ What do people think, the judge just fell off the turnip wagon??ÿ The judge has heard it all, you had better have a real life crisis before they will let you out of jury duty.
Locally, it is usually best to have the judge hear the case.
The jury pool does not like so well in taking them away from their normal lives to hear about your problems.
The last time they tried to put me on a jury, they ask if we would consider probation for rape. H..L no.
Told the DA that was the worst question he could have ask to a group of people that had been waiting years to get rid of that heathen.
They had to start over and it took nearly a year to get back into court.
I was in the pool for an accidental injury suit.?ÿ Attorney asked me if I thought any injury could warrant a million dollar judgment.?ÿ I answered "Yes, if you can show me that is the right number and not just some big number pulled out of the air."?ÿ Immediately out.
The Judge that heard the case I was on was very clear, you need an almost extreme hardship to get out of Jury duty.?ÿ One guy tried to beg off but she asked something like "can your wife take the kids to school?" "yes" "Okay I can't let you off." Funny thing was at that point in Jury selection he had a better chance of winning the lottery then getting put on the Jury.?ÿ I was next to last then they got number 12 and everyone in the gallery (including that guy) got sent back to the Jury lounge.?ÿ It was late enough he was most likely discharged for this round (roughly every two years you can expect a summons).
(roughly every two years you can expect a summons).
I was called once... about 38 years ago, about 2 years after obtaining my state surveying registration.?ÿ ?ÿIt was some kind of land boundary dispute, not involving me or the company I worked for.?ÿ ?ÿ When I said I was a surveyor, read a little about the case and already had an opinion formed, I was dismissed.?ÿ ?ÿAnd never called again - which is fine with me!
I served on a jury about six months ago. Prior to that, back in 1988... the most recent case took about ten calendar days of time. And yes, it was stressful because objectivity is an absolute IMO when reaching a verdict. However, I also believe that my fair number of years as a surveyor was a tremendous help in that regard.
I'm in San Bernardino county and many people at my company (who pays for 5 days of jury duty) get summons yearly. I just got one for early June, and had one last June. It's one day, one trial and then you're good for a year. As Dave said, they may tell you to show any day within a week, or release you from the jury waiting room early saying to return in the afternoon or call that night to see if you should show up the next day.
I've gotten into a jury room twice. Once just not picked and the second time released early on due to hardship/conflict. The judge was very reasonable the second time. The trial was expected to last 6-8 weeks. Pretty much if you had any type of vacation or other obligation planned, he would release you. One prospective juror was a cardiac surgeon. He pleaded his patients, got released, and we all approved. If you didn't know whether your job paid for jury duty or not, he told you to find out on the break and tell him. I said that I had a big company conference coming up that I was presenting at. "You're excused!" He did this by having people in each row of prospective jurors (not even in the "box") stand if they had a conflict and then polled each person.?ÿ
California (or at least San Berdoo county) appears to send jury duty notices based on driver's license registrations. The other half of people at my work get to inform the court that they're not citizens and so unfit to serve. They should probably use the voter rolls instead but then they wouldn't get enough people!
