Calif Jury Duty - Valid Excuse

cd-card-biz

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After being laid-off over 1.5 years ago, my wife today accepted a position with a new employer. Landing a corporate job these days is brutal but she persisted through more than 4-seasons of interviews, rejections, hopes and disappointments.

With her scheduled to start the new job next Monday, she receives a Summons for Jury Duty today.

Neither of us can imagine telling a new employer that you have to begin with some time off for jury duty.

Does anyone have some solid advice on how to craft the response to the summons and request for excuse? This is State of California.

This is not about just "getting out of it". I put in my time on JD last year. Not my favorite thing to do....but I did it.

Thanks for any sensible input,
Bill
 

magic79

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Are you in a county that has you call an automated message? I was called 3 times in 18 months when I lived there. Two of the three times I was dismissed without having to go to the courthouse. The third time I had to go in, and they were very tight on excuses.

I can't imagine an employer who would not be understanding though. This is required by law, and totally out of her control.
 

will

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In New York the people at the courts that handle jury duty are usually very good about things. You might try to get a postponement instead or getting out of it completly.
 

Topper

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1. "I don't know anything about it but I saw his picture in the paper, he had his shirt pulled over his head. An innocenent man would never do that."

2. "I don't know anything about it but I saw his picture in the paper, he looked really mean even angry at me, he must be guilty."

3."I don't know anything about it but I saw his picture in the paper, he was smiling like he thought I was to stupid to know he did it."

4. "I don't know anything about it but I saw his picture in the paper, he sold me some crack a week ago it was good stuff."

5. "I don't know anything about it but I saw his picture in the paper, he stole some crack from my roomate and sold it to me he is cool by me. You ain't telling my roomate this right?"

Pick one they will all work to not be picked you still got to go down to play.
Just a joke ducking jury duty is not a good thing to me.
I vote go and speak truth, the law will not allow the boss to fire you over jury duty, at least not in Arkansas.
Where I work you get paid normal hours sign over the piddle amount the State gives you and all is not well but hey it's the law.
Topper
 

Datasaurusrex

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I'd prefer that people get a free pass on jury duty, rather than having people sit on a jury who don't actually want to be there.

There's something about compulsory jury duty that strikes me as inherently unjust.
 

LordAngus

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Here i know an employer MUST give you time off.. but i can see the whole new job thing..


does she have any medical conditions? here thats a reason for being excused.. well depends what i guess.. but id just write that i got blah blah and i need to follow a strict treatment program or my health suffers...
 

Brighteyez

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Responsible corporations (even little ones) are aware of, and generally accommodating of civic responsibilities. And while it is dependent upon the county, in many cases prospective jurors never actually show up in a courtroom but are placed on-call via telephone or a county web site indicating if the individual's respective group is to actually report for jury selection.

Insofar as general excuses, those are often listed in the notice. If your wife doesn't fall into one of those categories, it would probably be best to just advise the new employer. This is just one of those potential absences that are unavoodable and most corporations do not have a problem with it, and most employers will compensate employees for jury duty.

cd-card-biz said:
With her scheduled to start the new job next Monday, she receives a Summons for Jury Duty today.

Neither of us can imagine telling a new employer that you have to begin with some time off for jury duty.

Does anyone have some solid advice on how to craft the response to the summons and request for excuse? This is State of California.

This is not about just "getting out of it". I put in my time on JD last year. Not my favorite thing to do....but I did it.

Thanks for any sensible input,
Bill
 

paulr

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There should be a phone number on the phone. Just call it and ask for a postponement. They let you put it off for a few months pretty much automatically.
 

Reaper

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Unless SoCal is different from San Francisco, you can get a one time deferrment good for 3 months. You send in your jury summons by mail and check off the one for the deferrment. You then get a new summons date where you must show up, report in and just wait until they tell you to go either home and call in OR report to a court room for selection. You phone in every morning for 5 days and unless they call you in - you are excused and free for another year. For the record, I actually got seated on my last 3 jury duties but got thrown off by the defense. Go figure.
 
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gorn

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Like Raper said, in California you can ask for an extension. Give the clerk of the court a call, they will help you. The number should be on the summons. Don't just ignore it. Some judges get annoyed and issue either an order to show cause, or issue a warrant for your arrest for contempt of court.
 

cd-card-biz

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Thanks guys. Just seems a shame that my wife was off for so long, during which time she would have happily served. That's life I guess!

Anyway, sounds like a request for postponement is what she will do. We definately won't just ignore the Summons.

Wow, I just happened to remember......I never got my $7 / day for serving last year. I'm sure the check's in the mail......

Thanks again.
 

Brighteyez

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Well ... I probably have a few around the house someplace, as I never get around to cashing them. They're probably a few years old, but you're welcome to them :)

cd-card-biz said:
Wow, I just happened to remember......I never got my $7 / day for serving last year. I'm sure the check's in the mail......

Thanks again.
 

Biker Bear

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What I find interesting is how they could possibly do ANYTHING to you for ignoring the "Summons" - when there's no way on earth they can prove you GOT it. They're certainly not sent Registered Mail or anything where there's proof of delivery. I myself once ran across one - MONTHS after it had been sent - stuck between the pages of a catalog I'd gotten in the mail and just tossed aside.

Now, if they follow up the "bulk mail" version with something they can actually prove you got, that's different.
 

Reaper

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Speaking of bench warrants. One time our group got assigned to a court room, made roll call and of course everyone was there. We got sent home 3 hours later because it was getting late and told to report back next morning where roll call was again done. One lady did not show up - judge immediately issued a bench warrant to the tune of $1000.00. That the judge could set a dollar limit to the warrant was news to me and NOT that he could issue the warrant right there and then.
 

Nebula

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Bill - When I joined this forum I had no Idea that I would encounter a subject matter that I am comfortable discussing. I had to go to law school because my math skills suck. I knew that I would never make it as an engineer - even though to this day I love to tinker with gadgets. Because of my position I cannot give you - or your wife legal advice. However, I can explain how the system works. Feel free to ask questions if you like. I will do my best to respond without providing legal advice. Here goes:

Since you did not mention it, I assume that the JD summons is for state court and not federal court. Acting on this assumption the infomation I provide will be very general in nature as both local and state regulations/statutes differ. However, if your wife's summons is for JD in the federal courts system stop reading here and drive her to the courthouse Monday morning - and be there on time! It's a really bad idea to ignore a federal summons. If the summons originated from a state court read on.

1. A summons is essentially a demand to appear. Biker Bear was lucky. Normally the court's bailiff/jury clerk (the nomenclature varies) will read the list of potential jurors (just like roll call) assembled in the room awaiting impanelment. When an individual fails to appear a note is made, and later an effort is made to determine why the person failed to appear. Absent a very good excuse the chief judge (or assigned judge) has the authority to issue a bench warrant for the absent individual's arrest. Not to worry - this rarely happens for the first summons. That said, the decision to issue an arrest warrant is the Judge's alone. You never know what kind of mood these guys are in.

2. It's Friday. She has been called to appear Monday. The timing sucks. Normally notice is provided a couple of weeks out. This might be something she can bring up with the clerk, but I doubt that this is sufficient to escape JD. Likely though, unless your state has a 24 hour call-in line it is too late to get out of JD without going down to the courthouse Monday morning. Once she is there the point is moot.

3. Being called for JD is not the same as being impaneled. Most people don't make the cut. They just sit around drinking bad coffee until the clerk comes in and releases them for the day. Most of the time that is it. However, there are times when the assembled potential jurors are told to return the next day to do it all again. It is probably not a bad idea to use this time to discuss one's personal circumstances with the clerk - or even the judge.

4. Let's assume for the sake of argument that after all this you find yourself "impaneled" and sitting in a court room. You may not get a case. You may just be told to sit and wait. Or, you may be facing a series of qustions - known as voir dire. Unlike what people see on TV the lawyers often don't get to do voir dire. The judge will do it. Since you served previously you know how this works. Each side -be it civil or criminal will have an opportunity to use challenges to exclude individuals that they don't believe will help their side of the case. When someone is dismissed for cause (one of the two types of challenge) that person will return to the assembly room for the next round. If they are lucky there will be no next round and they go home. One of the questions that will surely be asked of any potential juror is whether he/she can be impartial in deliberations. The answer is of course a personal matter and should be an honest response. That said, I know of people that have responded in the negative just to get off JD. There is always a risk that the judge will see right through this and then you end up drinking more bad coffee.

5. Both federal and state law require that an employer release an employee for JD. No way around it. This is true even for the newly employed. If I received a summons on a Friday for JD on Monday I would make every effort to let my new employer know. I would then show up at the office early Monday for a little face time with my immediate supervisor. Failing that, I would ask to see someone with authority to report the matter up the chain of command. Oh, and I would not be late for the courthouse. Luckily they generally don't start until after 9:00.

Soapbox - Jury duty is a civic duty. Everyone should serve. Personally I would love to but cannot. Even though I am in the federal system, I hold a license from a state that prohibits "Drunkards, Felons and Lawyers" (yes, in that order) from serving. Most often juries are made up of the unemployed, under employed, and retired. It is nice to see the occassional young and/or professional person serving. I realize this does not help, and it's very likely not what you want to hear. Nevertheless, JD is a very important - actually vital - part of our judicial system.

I hope this helps.

Biker Bear - Just in case you find yourself in a repeat situation I urge you to contact someone - anyone - at the issuing court. You never know when some cranky old judge is going to issue a bench warrant.

Good luck to all. Kirk
 
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James S

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your only hope is communication with the people in charge and hope that they take an interest. There is no sure fire way to get out of it, no jokes to tell them or anything. In my couple of callings I found the people in charge of getting juries together to be sympathetic but completely unwilling to consider any excuse at all. The sooner you contact them the more willing they will be to help you, it gets harder and harder to fill their quotas of people as they let more and more off. So call them first chance you get! Once they have given as many people a pass as they can and still have the required numbers for their jury pools they will not let you out for any reason.

One good thing about serving at the very beginning of the job, she'll be off the rolls for however long and while the job may have to wait a week for her to start various training and such, they wont have to risk loosing her for a week in the middle of an important project or something.

I explained to the people here that I was the primary caregiver for my 1 year old and 5 year old at the time and they could care less. It cost me hundreds of dollars in baby sitting fees and sleepless nights on the phone trying to arrange it all so that I could do it when they told me there was no way they were letting me off just because I couldn't find a baby sitter. but they did say specifically in the documents NOT to bring children. I guess people try to get off by bringing the kids in but all they get is a chance at some time in jail. Here they dont bring criminal charges if they manage to have enough people in spite if your not turning up, but if they are unable to fill a jury pool because of you not being there you will go to jail.
 
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