Jury Duty

[bisjoe]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Washington

I have been the owner of a small business for 15 years. In the past I have gotten several jury duty summons for local municipal court, and while I did have part-time employees a lengthy time away from the business would be a hardship, and I was always excused.

This time my summons was from the superior court 25 miles away. At this time since business has been poor this year I have no employees, and am doing everything myself, In addition, I cannot financially afford to miss any work since my income has been so much less than normal.

My request was denied. I appealed to the head of the county juries but have not heard back yet. Any suggestions for further appeals would be welcome, in case it's denied again.

Also, does anyone know the penalty for failing to report?

 

[JETX]

Any suggestions for further appeals would be welcome, in case it's denied again.

There are some valid excuses from jury duty. If you don't have one of them.... you don't get excused.

Also, does anyone know the penalty for failing to report?

Yep. You could face contempt of court and possible arrest.

 

[racer72]

Superior courts have a much higher standard when it comes to releasing those that have been summoned. At a minimum you will have to appear for the first day of your assigned jury duty. If you are selected for a jury pool, you can then make your claim to be dismissed. Failure to comply will result in a citation with a mandatory court appearance. My last stint of jury duty in King County there were a couple folks like you, claimed financial hardship but ended up being sat on a jury anyway. At the end of the trial a week later both found the experience to be worth the time away from there work and were very glad they did it.

 

[bisjoe]

I may end up having to go and plead my case before the judge seating the jury. The problem is that any more than a few days away from the business could be a severe financial blow with the work I have pending for the next 60 days or so.

I have served before when living in CA with a normal job, and I did enjoy and learn from the experience, so I'm not trying to get out of it just because I don't want to do it. I'm awaiting the decision of the judge I wrote to, if he too denies my appeal I'll change my date which is allowed once, and try for the beginning of the year when things are normally slowest for my business.

 

[CraigFL]

I can tell you I went through this too. After consulting with my lawyer, I found the absolute quickest way to deal with this and get back to work making money again is to go there and get on the first jury and be done with it. I had to close my business for essentially two days putting my employees out of work but really nobody cared except for me and my employees. They've heard every excuse in the book from hardened, lying criminals and talk from honest, working people sounds the same to them. But they tell me it's a responsibility of our justice system....