Jury Duty :(

[GeezerCouple]

Here is what our travel insurance policy states, explicitly, about jury duty:

 

"...

“Other Covered Reasons” means:

a.  You or Your Traveling Companion being hijacked, quarantined, required to serve on a jury

(notice of jury duty must be received after Your Effective Date), served with a court order to

appear as a witness in a legal action in which You or Your Traveling Companion is not a party

(except law enforcement officers);

..." [emphasis added]

 

Needless to say, other insurers may handle this differently, and perhaps our insurer handles it differently with other types of travel insurance coverages.

 

This is but one example of why it is *SO* important to read the full terms and conditions (T&Cs) of the specific policy that one is considering!  Many (most? all?) travel insurers give a short period of time (e.g., several days) for one to read in more depth or perhaps ask questions of others, during which one could request the policy be cancelled and money refunded. 

 

GC

[sparks1093]

1 hour ago, GeezerCouple said:

Here is what our travel insurance policy states, explicitly, about jury duty:

 

"...

“Other Covered Reasons” means:

a.  You or Your Traveling Companion being hijacked, quarantined, required to serve on a jury

(notice of jury duty must be received after Your Effective Date), served with a court order to

appear as a witness in a legal action in which You or Your Traveling Companion is not a party

(except law enforcement officers);

..." [emphasis added]

 

Needless to say, other insurers may handle this differently, and perhaps our insurer handles it differently with other types of travel insurance coverages.

 

This is but one example of why it is *SO* important to read the full terms and conditions (T&Cs) of the specific policy that one is considering!  Many (most? all?) travel insurers give a short period of time (e.g., several days) for one to read in more depth or perhaps ask questions of others, during which one could request the policy be cancelled and money refunded. 

 

GC

And this brings up an important thing to remember about travel insurance (well, all insurance really)- you need to buy it before the covered event happens. If you buy the insurance after you've been summoned it doesn't work.

[SmoothFlying]

18 hours ago, GeezerCouple said:

 

I guess if you don't like the civic responsibility that goes along with, well, civilization, you could try to find an island someplace and live like "Lord of the Flies" with some other similarly-minded people.

 

Well, I'm sure there are several countries that don't use the jury system (either in  Europe or the Middle East come to mind) where the state appoints 3 judges and if ALL three find ya guilty of some hidious crime like,possession of outlawed papers or books the state objects too, well, it's the hangman's noose for you. No fuss no muss and defitinly NO appeal. The state picks the judges, appoints your lawyer. Presto Bango, Next case, PLEASE ! Can't have our citizens bothered about right/wrong ORif real justice dealt with, right?.

Mac

[Toofarfromthesea]

On 2/27/2024 at 1:49 PM, ggprincess2004 said:

Yes, was able to defer without an issue. The clerk actually asked what month would be most convenient for me. We were moving my parents into a continuing care facility the week jury duty was scheduled.  But, that wasn't where you live. Hope you can defer without a hassle.

I have also gotten a jury duty summons arrive in the very late afternoon the day before we left for a long trip/cruise. I had to call between flights the next day to tell them we were on the way out of town, and get that one deferred. That was quite easy too. And it was with 2 weeks notice before the scheduled date. 

We can now go line and enter an excuse - it finally got easier. 

 

Where do you live where jury summons are sent so soon before reporting?  In the 2 states i'm familiar with, CS & AZ it was at least a month and more like six weeks to reporting day with plenty of time to request deferment.  And a scheduled vacation would be practically guaranteed deferment.

[Toofarfromthesea]

On 2/28/2024 at 1:53 PM, SbbquilterUT said:

Had the same happen - 6 month Grand Jury duty and had to provide paper documents showing what we had paid and what we would forfeit.  Did get excused and did not serve a single day I. Those six months.  Good Luck

 

Wow, I would have loved to be on a Grand Jury.  I thoroughly enjoyed my 2 stints of being on an actual jury.

[GeezerCouple]

6 hours ago, Toofarfromthesea said:

 

Wow, I would have loved to be on a Grand Jury.  I thoroughly enjoyed my 2 stints of being on an actual jury.

 

I was always very curious.

 

My first call to duty arrived about a month before the scheduled Court date.  Unfortunately, I was moving in 2 weeks, not far away, but a different county.  When I called (no email/etc., back then), I offered to be there anyway, but the clerk's office said that wouldn't be legal if I no longer owned a house there.

 

Next time, I had been ill, and there was too much chance I'd be unable to serve even if postponed a short time.  We just couldn't know.  And then I guess I aged out?

 

However, DH was called when he was a bit older.  He showed up, and surprise... he was selected.  He was also voted Foreperson.  It was a heavy responsibility, because depending upon the outcome, the person might end up in prison for several-to-many years, and it was apparently a questionable situation.  Huge responsibility!

 

GC

[ggprincess2004]

15 hours ago, Toofarfromthesea said:

 

Where do you live where jury summons are sent so soon before reporting?  In the 2 states i'm familiar with, CS & AZ it was at least a month and more like six weeks to reporting day with plenty of time to request deferment.  And a scheduled vacation would be practically guaranteed deferment.

We were going to be away for almost 2 months....and our county jury duty office is a joke. Jury duty is worse than being in kindergarten with all their crazy restrictions, and lack of working beverage options. 

[PurpleHays]

On 3/1/2024 at 8:19 AM, DarrenM said:

Sorry I may have understood here, but are you saying you had to do jury service and cost you money to do so?

 

Just out of curiosity, what would happen if you ended up on one of those crazy trials that last months? I would expect that your job would be protected and that you wouldnt lose a penny of pay. Is that not the case?

No, it cost me vacation/sick time. It's annoying, but at least I have a job that I can accrue paid time off and not have to go with out pay. That $12/day wouldn't even pay for meals during the day. And all prospective jurors were asked if serving would hurt them financially. Two teachers were dismissed when they revealed the difficulty of finding substitutes for two weeks.

 

Also, when they asked if time away from work would be a problem, I said "no," and it wasn't--in February. If I had been called in Nov/Dec, it would have been a problem since that's our busy season and we were already down seven staffers (out of about 35).

 

No matter where you live, you take the positive with the negative. If you don't like it, move somewhere where your positives outnumber your negatives. I think our two party political system sucks, but I prefer to live here in spite of stupid politicians (of both parties).

On 3/2/2024 at 5:50 AM, sparks1093 said:

 (And I wouldn't be surprised at all that somewhere someone was convicted because juror number 7 had a trip coming up and they only voted guilty so they could get end the process early and make their trip.)

Ha! I was Juror #7 when I served!

[Gunner 66]

When I asked how they came up with the list of prospective jurors, I was told they came from the voters list. So if you don't want to get called......don't vote.

[Charles4515]

31 minutes ago, Gunner 66 said:

When I asked how they came up with the list of prospective jurors, I was told they came from the voters list. So if you don't want to get called......don't vote.

Here in Texas every two years they get the names from the drivers license list, the voter list and state ID list and combine them into one pool. What you were told might be true in your state but then again it probably is not. That is an old myth that the pool only comes from the voters list.  The way they do it in Texas is pretty standard. Previously I lived in Maryland and they did it the same way, drivers license, voters list and state ID card. 

Edited March 4 by Charles4515

[sparks1093]

7 hours ago, Gunner 66 said:

When I asked how they came up with the list of prospective jurors, I was told they came from the voters list. So if you don't want to get called......don't vote.

May be the way they do it in Minnesota but here in Vermont the statute gives many examples of what lists potential jurors name's may be found:

 

The clerk, in order to ascertain names of persons eligible as jurors, may consult the latest census enumeration; the latest published city, town, or village telephone or other directory; the listers’ records; the elections records; and any other general source of names.

(b) Notwithstanding any law to the contrary, the Court Administrator may obtain the names, addresses, and dates of birth of persons that are contained in the records of the Department of Motor Vehicles, the Department of Labor, the Department of Taxes, the Department of Health, and the Department for Children and Families. The Court Administrator may also obtain the names of voters from the Secretary of State. 

[DarrenM]

19 hours ago, PurpleHays said:

No, it cost me vacation/sick time. It's annoying, but at least I have a job that I can accrue paid time off and not have to go with out pay. That $12/day wouldn't even pay for meals during the day. And all prospective jurors were asked if serving would hurt them financially. Two teachers were dismissed when they revealed the difficulty of finding substitutes for two weeks.

 

Also, when they asked if time away from work would be a problem, I said "no," and it wasn't--in February. If I had been called in Nov/Dec, it would have been a problem since that's our busy season and we were already down seven staffers (out of about 35).

 

No matter where you live, you take the positive with the negative. If you don't like it, move somewhere where your positives outnumber your negatives. I think our two party political system sucks, but I prefer to live here in spite of stupid politicians (of both parties).

Ha! I was Juror #7 when I served!

Sorry if I am misunderstanding here but are you saying you can he forced to do jury service and it may and probably will cost you money, or at least your vacation time?

 

How can that be?

 

How can doing your "civic duty" as some on here claim, actually put you out of pocket, or vacation time?

 

And surely most people have a career, and how will that remain if you are on a very long case?

 

Apologies I have misunderstood here.

[TheOldBear]

1 hour ago, DarrenM said:

Sorry if I am misunderstanding here but are you saying you can he forced to do jury service and it may and probably will cost you money, or at least your vacation time?

Yes, it can happen

1 hour ago, DarrenM said:

 

How can that be?

 

How can doing your "civic duty" as some on here claim, actually put you out of pocket, or vacation time?

Some employers [but not all] will continue to pay salaried employees [for some time] while they are on jury duty. Others cannot afford to do so.

Hourly workers typically are limited in paid time off - ranging down to small business owners and independent contractors who have no paid time off.

1 hour ago, DarrenM said:

 

And surely most people have a career, and how will that remain if you are on a very long case?

In general, not well. That is one of the reasons folks will attempt to be excused from jury service.

1 hour ago, DarrenM said:

 

Apologies I have misunderstood here.

 

[Charles4515]

1 hour ago, DarrenM said:

Sorry if I am misunderstanding here but are you saying you can he forced to do jury service and it may and probably will cost you money, or at least your vacation time?

 

How can that be?

 

In the US we don't all have the rights you might have in the UK. Some states do  have laws protecting pay. Most union contracts protect pay and vacation time. If you can show hardship that is a reason jury duty can be deferred. 

[Toofarfromthesea]

On 3/3/2024 at 7:55 PM, Gunner 66 said:

When I asked how they came up with the list of prospective jurors, I was told they came from the voters list. So if you don't want to get called......don't vote.

 

You were told wrong.

 

https://casetext.com/rule/minnesota-court-rules/minnesota-general-rules-of-practice/title-ix-jury-management-rules/rule-806-jury-source-list

[PurpleHays]

On 3/4/2024 at 2:02 PM, DarrenM said:

Sorry if I am misunderstanding here but are you saying you can he forced to do jury service and it may and probably will cost you money, or at least your vacation time?

 

How can that be?

 

How can doing your "civic duty" as some on here claim, actually put you out of pocket, or vacation time?

 

And surely most people have a career, and how will that remain if you are on a very long case?

 

Apologies I have misunderstood here.

We were asked if the projected two weeks would present a financial hardship. Two weeks, no, two months, yes. Jobs are protected during jury duty. One of our jurors was getting grief from his employer (they told him he would be fired). The judge got involved and told him his employer could not *legally* fire him for jury duty.

 

Again, it's one of the responsibilities that goes with living in the US. I've been called once in 36 years of living as an adult in NC. With those odds, I'll be nearly dead before they call me again.

[LoungingMcCoy]

My wife was called for jury duty, two weeks I think.  One of which we had a cruise scheduled and paid for.  I assumed that the court had heard every reason under the sun from people trying to get out of jury duty so I printed off every document, e-mail, etc. that I could think of so she could show that we're not making this up.

 

Armed with a mountain of papers she called the court.  They took her word for it, didn't want to see any documentation, and said to call when we got back home. 

[ontheweb]

2 hours ago, LoungingMcCoy said:

My wife was called for jury duty, two weeks I think.  One of which we had a cruise scheduled and paid for.  I assumed that the court had heard every reason under the sun from people trying to get out of jury duty so I printed off every document, e-mail, etc. that I could think of so she could show that we're not making this up.

 

Armed with a mountain of papers she called the court.  They took her word for it, didn't want to see any documentation, and said to call when we got back home. 

I would think in hopefully most jurisdictions if you are willing to work with them, they will accommodate a delay.

[47greyfox]

On 2/28/2024 at 10:36 AM, mnocket said:

On a side note, I was recently surprised to learn that in Colorado you are automatically excused from jury duty if you are 70+ years old. 

I live in Weld county in Colorado and am 77 years old. Reading the summons, particularly the eligibility area, there are no words even suggesting the automatic exclusion you describe exists. What’s the source of your claim?

[ldubs]

On 2/28/2024 at 9:36 AM, mnocket said:

On a side note, I was recently surprised to learn that in Colorado you are automatically excused from jury duty if you are 70+ years old. 

 

59 minutes ago, 47greyfox said:

I live in Weld county in Colorado and am 77 years old. Reading the summons, particularly the eligibility area, there are no words even suggesting the automatic exclusion you describe exists. What’s the source of your claim?

 

I had heard the same thing about my state and in fact, I have not received any jury summons since I hit 70.  When I looked for it, I could find nothing that automatically exempted 70+ year olds.  There is no age related stop that I could find.  I did read that courts will waive the need for a physician's statement for exemptions based on medical issues.  That might vary by court, IDK.   

[mnocket]

1 hour ago, 47greyfox said:

I live in Weld county in Colorado and am 77 years old. Reading the summons, particularly the eligibility area, there are no words even suggesting the automatic exclusion you describe exists. What’s the source of your claim?

I received a notice from the U.S. District Court in Colorado for jury duty.  There was a link to request to be excused from serving.  One of the check boxes for requesting to be excused was stating that you were 70+ years of age.  I don't know if this exemption applies to municipal or other courts, but it does for the U.S. District Court in Colorado.

 

Here's the relevant section from the U.S. District Court in Colorado FAQ...

 

What are grounds for requesting a permanent excuse and how do I request one?

You may request an excuse if:

you are disabled with a permanent or chronic condition that prevents you from serving. (A doctor's note is required. It may be faxed to 303-335-2714 or emailed to jury_clerk@cod.uscourts.gov. Please include your 9 digit participant number.)
you have served as a grand or petit juror in any court within the last two years (Proof must be submitted);
you are a person over 70 years of age;
you are a person who is essential to the care of a child or children under ten years of age;
you are a person who is essential to the care of an aged or infirm person;
you are a person who resides outside the jury division from which you were summoned;
you are a person who serves without compensation as a volunteer fire fighter or a member of a rescue squad or ambulance crew for a federal, state, or local government agency;
you are a person employed as a federal law enforcement officer with arresting authority; or
if there is any other reason or undue hardship that would prevent you from serving as a juror in which the court would require additional information. If your situation falls within category (9), please be specific. Excuses must be submitted by the date specified on your written instructions.

 

source: Jury FAQs | US District Court of Colorado (uscourts.gov)

[mnocket]

30 minutes ago, ldubs said:

 

 

I had heard the same thing about my state and in fact, I have not received any jury summons since I hit 70.  When I looked for it, I could find nothing that automatically exempted 70+ year olds.  There is no age related stop that I could find.  I did read that courts will waive the need for a physician's statement for exemptions based on medical issues.  That might vary by court, IDK.   

See my reply in post # 76

[ldubs]

8 minutes ago, mnocket said:

See my reply in post # 76

 

Thanks.  Apparently different rules for State vs Federal courts may apply.  

 

[GeezerCouple]

29 minutes ago, ldubs said:

 

Thanks.  Apparently different rules for State vs Federal courts may apply.  

 

There may be some confusion here between "being automatically excused" and "having a request not to serve be automatically granted".

The latter does require some sort of contact with the court system.  The former would not; it would be automatic based upon age.

 

GC

[ldubs]

1 minute ago, GeezerCouple said:

There may be some confusion here between "being automatically excused" and "having a request not to serve be automatically granted".

The latter does require some sort of contact with the court system.  The former would not; it would be automatic based upon age.

 

GC

 

Yes, I agree that could be the confusion.  It would be similar, or the same, as confusing who is in potential jury pools vs those who might be excused once summoned.