Last month two federal court of appeals judges sucking up to speaking at the Federalist Society Convention advocated no discovery in cases worth less than $500,000. From the Slate article: Thomas Hardiman, a judge on the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, made what should have been viewed as a shocking declaration for a federal… Continue Reading
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WSJ Looks at Sleeping Jurors
Posted in Improving the Jury SystemNicole Hong penned this entertaining Wall Street Journal [paywall] article about sleeping jurors in Saturday’s print edition. The opening: The right to a jury trial is a pillar of America’s justice system, enshrined in the Constitution from a tradition dating back more than 1,000 years. The problem these days is making sure jurors stay awake…..… Continue Reading
Thoughts From the Other Side of Voir Dire
Posted in Improving the Jury SystemLast week I experienced my first voir dire as a potential juror. This post reports on the experience. I was summoned to appear in the big courtroom at the Hinds County Courthouse at 8:30 a.m. This was my second jury summons, but the first where I made it onto a panel. Hinds County Circuit Clerk… Continue Reading
Clarion Ledger Looks at ‘Nonpartisan’ Judicial Elections–Concludes Appellate Judges Should be Appointed
Posted in Improving the Jury System, Politics in MississippiOn Sunday Clarion Ledger reporter Jerry Mitchell examined Mississippi’s partisan ‘nonpartisan’ judicial elections. The article concluded with this happy thought from legal pioneer and former Mississippi Supreme Court Justice Reuben Anderson: Former Mississippi Supreme Court Justice Reuben Anderson also favors appointing judges and wishes Mississippi could select judges similar to the federal system. He called… Continue Reading
Miss. Court of Appeals Affirms Million-Plus Silica Verdict
Posted in Appellate Decisions From Jury Verdicts, Improving the Jury System, Mississippi Court of AppealsOn Tuesday the Mississippi Court of Appeals affirmed a $1,095,000 Hinds County jury verdict in Barnett v. Miss. Valley Silica Co. Here is my brief post in October 2012 reporting on the verdict. The decedent worked near sandblasting at Miss. Iron and Steel Co. on High Street in Jackson. He alleged that Valley Silica failed… Continue Reading
U.S. Supreme Court Rules Juries Can be Recalled in Civil Cases
Posted in Improving the Jury System, U.S. Supreme CourtOn Thursday in Dietz v. Bouldin, the Supreme Court ruled that federal district courts can recall jurors after identifying errors in deliberations. The decision involved the trial of a car wreck case in Florida. The defendant admitted liability and stipulated $10,136 in damages for plaintiff’s medical expenses. During deliberations, the jury sent out a note… Continue Reading
Juror Appears to Make Things Up to Support His Theories
Posted in Improving the Jury SystemA few weeks ago the New York Times ran this article about a mistrial in a New York murder trial following a several-months-long trial and 18 days of jury deliberations. The part of the story that grabbed me were the complaints from other jurors that the sole holdout introduced his own theories into deliberations: [the… Continue Reading
Mandatory Scheduling Orders and Trial Settings Coming to State Court?
Posted in Improving the Jury System, Mississippi Supreme CourtIn what could be a major change for state court litigation, the Mississippi Supreme Court is requesting comments about proposed amendments to the Rules of Civil Procedure. The proposals include mandatory scheduling orders and trial settings for civil actions. Here is the Court’s entire document on the proposals. Here is the Advisory Committee on Rules’… Continue Reading
Does the Civil Justice System Need a Do Over?
Posted in General, Improving the Jury SystemLately I’ve wondered whether the civil justice system and lawyers who practice in it have it wrong. Hear me out on this. When you get in an argument with your spouse or significant other, when it’s all over, do you care who ‘won’ the argument? No, you don’t. Or if you do, you’re in a… Continue Reading
The Fix is in?
Posted in General, Improving the Jury SystemJudges might be appalled to know how much parties theorize that the judge ruled against them because “the other side got to the judge” or “the fix was in.” It doesn’t happen all the time. But it’s not particularly unusual either. People don’t like to contemplate that their side was wrong on an issue or… Continue Reading
More Evidence that we aren’t Clearly Communicating with Jurors
Posted in Improving the Jury SystemOne of my recurring themes on this blog is my belief that lawyers and judges are doing a poor job communicating with juries on what the jury’s job is and how the jury should decide the case. This is a criticism of our explanation of the decision process–not how we communicate on what the verdict… Continue Reading
Prominent Lawyer Calls for Change to Jury Trials
Posted in Improving the Jury SystemLaw 360 reported this week on prominent trial attorney Steve Susman of the Susman Godfey law firm calling for changes to the system for civil jury trials. Here is the article. Here are Susman’s suggestions for improvement: trials should be shorter jury panels should be larger jury instructions should be simpler judges should decide discovery… Continue Reading
Can Jurors Disregard the Law?
Posted in Improving the Jury SystemJury nullification is the concept of jurors ignoring the law and rendering a verdict based on which side the jury thinks should win, even if the verdict is contrary to the evidence and law. This recent Washington Post article covers an advertising campaign that promotes jury nullification. The article states: The billboard is part of… Continue Reading
Baker & McKenzie Reversal Proves that State Courts Should Reform Jury Instruction Procedures
Posted in Improving the Jury SystemAll nine Mississippi Supreme Court Justices agreed last week that the plaintiffs and cross plaintiffs proved fault in their legal malpractice case against mega firm Baker & McKenzie. But the case is headed for a new trial because of errors in how the trial court instructed the jury. This shows why Mississippi courts need to… Continue Reading
Another Voice Against Elected Judiciary– This One From an Elected Judge
Posted in Improving the Jury SystemThe Atlantic reported this week on elected Texas Supreme Court Justice Don Willett speaking out against the elected judicial system. Here are some of Justice Willett’s comments: The ACS study raises difficult and consequential questions, familiar questions that frankly can’t be raised enough. A former Texas Governor, Sull Ross, once said, “The loss of public… Continue Reading
A Call For More Criminal Trials (Not By Me)
Posted in Improving the Jury SystemA couple of weeks ago Albert Dzur’s article “Twelve Absent Men” in the Boston Review caught my eye. Here it is. With a focus on criminal cases, Dzur calls for more jury trials. One of the main reasons for the decline in criminal trials is not lost on Dzur: Massachusetts Federal District Court Judge William… Continue Reading
Study Shows Why Appellate Judges Should be Appointed
Posted in Improving the Jury SystemHow Appealing noted a McClatchy article about a study that concluded that business donations to elected judges leads to business friendly rulings. The study that the article discusses concludes: The growing importance of money in judicial elections gives interest groups the opportunity to shape the judiciary. Although any interest group that is able to marshal… Continue Reading
Study: Courts Should Not Rely on Rehabilitation that Jurors Can Be Fair
Posted in Improving the Jury SystemHere is a study asking Can Jurors Self Diagnose Bias? Two Randomized Controlled Trials.” The study tries to determine whether the common practice of asking jurors who otherwise appear biased if they can be fair works to exclude biased jurors. The study concludes that it does not. If this is correct, then the common voir dire practice… Continue Reading
Miss. Supreme Court’s Reversal of $1 Million Jury Verdict in Medical Malpractice Case is Example of Why State Court Judges Need to Alter System for Formulating Jury Instructions
Posted in Appellate Decisions From Jury Verdicts, Improving the Jury System, Mississippi Supreme CourtAs discussed at TBA last week, on Thursday the Mississippi Supreme Court reversed and remanded a 2011 jury verdict of $1 million in a Hinds County case. Plaintiff alleged medical malpractice against Dr. Charles Laney. Here is the Court’s opinion in Laney v. Vance. The facts of the case were not important for purposes of the Court’s opinion.… Continue Reading
Book Review: Fixing the Engine of Justice, Diagnosis and Repair of Our Jury System, by David Tunno
Posted in Book Reviews, Improving the Jury SystemUnreliable, inefficient or inoperative altogether. Those are words that longtime trial consultant David Tunno uses to describe the jury system in the United States. Tunno’s book Fixing the Engine of Justice, Diagnosis and Repair of Our Jury System gives his take on the problems and solutions for the jury system. According to Tunno, the major… Continue Reading
New York Lawyer: Jurors Should Be Permitted to Ask Questions
Posted in General, Improving the Jury SystemI’ve previously advocated jury reform in Mississippi in posts here and here. Along these lines, the New York Personal Injury Law Blog recently had this guest post by Peter DeFillipis that supporting allowing jurors to ask questions in trial. The post states in part: I think this process insures that the jury is better informed… Continue Reading
Footnote 7 Revisited: Can Jurors Bring Evidence into the Deliberation Room?
Posted in Improving the Jury System, Mississippi Supreme CourtCan jurors decide a case based not on evidence presented at trial, but instead on a jurors’ personal experience? Footnote 7 from the Mississippi Supreme Court’s non-decision in Sears v. Learmonth created significant teeth gnashing on this question in the legal community—at least among lawyers who read the footnotes. Footnote 7 was the majority’s response to… Continue Reading
Article: Instructing Jurors on Law at Start of Case Would Improve Decision Making
Posted in General, Improving the Jury SystemHere is an interesting article titled “Through the Eyes of Jurors: The Use of Cognitive Psychology in the Application of ‘Plain Language’ Jury Instructions.” The author is Sara Gordon, a professor at the UNLV School of Law. The article concludes that “jurors do not come to trials as blank slates; they bring with them existing… Continue Reading
Mississippi Supreme Court’s Reversal of $2.6 Million Judgement Shows Why State Courts Need Better System for Jury Instructions
Posted in Appellate Decisions From Jury Verdicts, Improving the Jury System, Mississippi Supreme CourtOn Thursday the Mississippi Supreme Court reversed and remanded a $2.6 million judgment in Miss. Valley Silica Co. v. Eastman in a 6–3 decision. Here is the Court’s opinion. The Court’s decision stemmed from a 2010 silica trial in Warren County that resulted in a $7.6 million jury verdict. The trial court reduced the verdict… Continue Reading