Jury duty

[gamaleo]

What is the name of your state? New York

I am a sole proprietor of a business and received a summons for jury duty. Is it okay for me to use this as an excuse for not being available for jury duty?

Thanks.

 

[seniorjudge]

What is the name of your state? New York

I am a sole proprietor of a business and received a summons for jury duty. Is it okay for me to use this as an excuse for not being available for jury duty?

Thanks.

Call the clerk that issued the summons and ask if you can file an excuse for whatever your reasons are.


I have absolutely no idea whether this website is reliable:

http://www.pagerealm.com/jury/

 

[CraigFL]

My personal experience is that it will work as a delay tactic but eventually you will rise to the top and be REQUIRED to serve. It mattered not that I had to shut my business down for essentially 3 days and put my two employees out of work.

 

[You Are Guilty]

State or federal?

And while you are granted one deferrment "as of right" (up to ~6 months I believe), after that, you can try calling the clerk to explain your excuse, but most often, they require you to come in and argue in person on the date on the summons.

If it's any consolation, there's no lawyer on the planet who would select you to be on a jury if, at the start of their questions to you, you tell them that your business will "go under" if you're put on the jury. (No lawyer wants a juror who's angry at them deciding their client's fate!)

 

[racer72]

I served on a jury this past summer. One of my fellow jurors claimed his business required his full attention and he could not be away from it. He ended up getting selected for the jury for the same trial I did. At the end of the two week trial, his business was still doing fine and he loved the experience of serving on a jury. I also have a couple of small side businesses besides my regular job and I made sure there is someone around that can run the business if I can't. A business that is so fragile it will fail if someone is gone a few days is destined to failure in the near future anyway.

 

[Ohiogal]

It depends. I know I was excused from jury duty because I am a solo. Without me my business doesn't run. Of course without me approximately 12 different court dates in three counties would have had to be rescheduled as well so the judge may have taken that into consideration when I was excused from grand jury duty. Would have loved to do it but impossible.
So what exactly is your business? That too also matters. If you are a wedding photographer and the majority of your business can take place after normal court hours that may not matter as much as if it is something that relies on being available during "court" hours.