Commanders Post at The Warpath - View Single Post - Jury Duty: How many times can you be called?

GMScud · 04-13-2011, 12:51 AM

TMC I have no idea what the laws are in your county, but I just went into the Montgomery County Judicial Center for jury duty last Monday, April 4th. I moved back here from Florida in July of 2007, and this was the first time I was called.

It sucked, but it could have been worse. They call you to actually sit for a trial based on your juror number, from lowest to highest. On my day, there were 250+ potential jurors, and my number was 4. Out of 250. And there were 11 different trials on the docket that day. So basically unless an attorney found cause to strike me, I was serving on a jury.

So they call my number for a case, and it turns out it's a civil case that the judge tells us he anticipates will last for at least 2 weeks. WTF!!! Two weeks! I know jury duty is your civic duty and you can't be fired for it, but I am the GM of a $3M+ a year business. Try telling the owner of my company you can't be around for at least two weeks. Ughhhhhhh.

Well, as it turns out, dumb luck was on my side for once. One of my family's closest friends who I've know for 15+ years happens to be a pretty important employee of the company that was being sued for damages. I communicated this to the judge/attorneys, and sure enough, I was dismissed about 2 hours later. So my jury duty experience made me anxious, but ultimately only cost me about 7 hours on a Monday. Not the end of the world. They said it will likely be 3 or more years before I'm summoned again.

Side note- I lived in Florida for over 8 years (from 19-28 years old) and never once got summoned for jury duty.

04-13-2011, 12:51 AM	#9
GMScud Swearinger Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Washington, DC Posts: 12,626	Re: Jury Duty: How many times can you be called? TMC I have no idea what the laws are in your county, but I just went into the Montgomery County Judicial Center for jury duty last Monday, April 4th. I moved back here from Florida in July of 2007, and this was the first time I was called. It sucked, but it could have been worse. They call you to actually sit for a trial based on your juror number, from lowest to highest. On my day, there were 250+ potential jurors, and my number was 4. Out of 250. And there were 11 different trials on the docket that day. So basically unless an attorney found cause to strike me, I was serving on a jury. So they call my number for a case, and it turns out it's a civil case that the judge tells us he anticipates will last for at least 2 weeks. WTF!!! Two weeks! I know jury duty is your civic duty and you can't be fired for it, but I am the GM of a $3M+ a year business. Try telling the owner of my company you can't be around for at least two weeks. Ughhhhhhh. Well, as it turns out, dumb luck was on my side for once. One of my family's closest friends who I've know for 15+ years happens to be a pretty important employee of the company that was being sued for damages. I communicated this to the judge/attorneys, and sure enough, I was dismissed about 2 hours later. So my jury duty experience made me anxious, but ultimately only cost me about 7 hours on a Monday. Not the end of the world. They said it will likely be 3 or more years before I'm summoned again. Side note- I lived in Florida for over 8 years (from 19-28 years old) and never once got summoned for jury duty. __________________ Tardy