Getting out of Jury Duty
Having just tried out for a position in the jury box, I’ve come away from the experience a changed man. I won’t be going back. I now know that I will never be picked as a juror, so I might as well stay at work. It’s easy to avoid being selected as a juror, in my case I just told the truth. What bothers me about the ordeal is that out of 39 potential jurors, I am the only one who professed a non-compromising position on two different questions asked by the lawyers.
“The law has placed the collective force at the disposal of the unscrupulous who wish, without risk, to exploit the person, liberty, and property of others. It has converted plunder into a right, in order to protect plunder. And it has converted lawful defense into a crime, in order to punish lawful defense.” (The Law)
The purpose of the jury
The purpose of a jury is to see that justice is being served upon their fellow citizens by the legal system. That’s it! There should be nothing complicated about this process. But it becomes complicated when the laws become complicated and complex for the purposes of plundering our neighbors. Yesterday in civil court, the jury was instructed to act as willing participants of corruption in a system of perversion that defies the very purpose of the jury itself.
“I consider trial by jury as the only anchor yet imagined by man by which a government can be held to the principles of its constitution.” - Thomas Jefferson
One of the unspoken purposes (at least it’s unspoken in courtrooms these days) of a jury is to safeguard their fellow citizens against unjust laws. You see, the founders of our country knew that the jury would serve as a fortress, protecting individual rights against a legal system which desires to propagate unjust laws onto its citizens.
Out of the 39 potential jurors the team of lawyers will select 13. One extra juror is needed as an alternate in case one of the others has to be replaced. But first the lawyers have a question and answer period where they size up the individual jurors. For this part of the process we were seated in four neat rows, side by side. Each of us had a number and if we needed to talk we would hold up our number so the court reporter could document our number and then our comments or questions.
This was a civil court case where the plaintiff’s car had been struck from behind by a large truck. The plaintiff was suing the trucking company for medical bills, loss of income, pain and suffering and so on. As her lawyer stood before us asking questions, he finally reached the question where I had to draw a line in the sand.
“Do any of you have a problem awarding large settlements?” he asked.
I honestly couldn’t help it, my hand slowly started to rise. Notice that this question is purposefully ambiguous. So another juror decided to help him out by asking “Define large”. At this point the lawyer gave an ambiguous answer, then turned his head and asked me “Could you explain number 29?” I was glad to.
“Her medical bills should be taken into consideration. Also, loss of income and the potential loss of future income or medical bills should be considered, but anything above and beyond that I’m going to have a problem with” I said.
“So would you have a problem awarding damages for pain and suffering” he shot back.
“Yes” was my answer…..
Pain and suffering, mental anguish, and emotional stress, are all categories lawyers use to drive up their winnings. They talk about their client but what they’re really interested in is their own wallets. Not that I blame them. I blame the people for allowing their justice system to become corrupt. Mississippi has one of the worse track records for giving insurance companies the shaft using civil court trials. But then when a hurricane wipes out the MS coastline, everyone bitches about those evil insurance companies not wanting to pay up. What these jurors don’t realize is the unintended result of these large settlements. The business or company at fault doesn’t pay, the insurance company has to pay these large damage awards. The insurance company then increases the premiums to their customers, which drives up prices for all of us. So who really pays? The citizens out spending money on products and services are the ones who pay. When a business owner has to pay a higher premium on his insurance, he raises prices enough to insure the profit margin stays in place.
How can you assign a monetary value to something you cannot measure? For this reason, my award is restricted to the financial loss caused by the accident. Think about this, justice should be easy to see, easy to define. Once you leave definable values you have left the realm of what can be measured. Thus you have entered a world of ambiguity, where anything goes. Does that sound like the role of justice, to enter into a realm where any amount of repercussion can be assigned? This is why the above mentioned categories should be invalidated. But since lawyers get elected and write laws, they use the power of legislation to enhance their bank accounts. Hence, pain and suffering will likely have a long and prosperous future for lawyers and their clients. For example, the lawyers request two million dollars for ‘mental anguish’. But why stop at two million, why not twenty million, hell why not one hundred million? You see my point, you are in a world of ambiguity - this is not justice, this is plunder.
The role of civil court
The function of civil court is to insure that justice is achieved. But in our courts, justice and fairness are no longer the goals. Our civil court has become an instrument of piracy. A thief, a robber, a wolf, dressed in suits, ties, and robes - our legal system is a disgrace to our society. It is my desire that justice be served.
In a civil court setting the law should be used to insure that justice is accomplished. But what is justice in the above mentioned case? Justice is the restoration of the losses caused by the accident. What are the losses? The losses are assessed by asking the following questions.
1) What is the amount of medical bills and potential future medical bills as relates to this injury.
2) What is the loss of income and potential loss of future income as relates to this injury.
This is justice. Examples of plunder are:
1) Will the jury please assign a financial award for pain and suffering?
2) Will the jury please assign a financial award for mental anguish?
This is plunder, for these are ambiguous notions that are impossible to define. Hence, they are used as instruments of plunder. You cannot attach a financial reward to a concept that you cannot measure nor prove even exists. For this reason these thoughts should be purged from our legal system.
The second question that caused me to raise my hand was “If the judge tells you to apply a law that you personally feel is unethical, will you still be able to apply that law?” Once again my hand went up and the lawyer asked me to elaborate (I was the only one with a raised hand). “If I consider a law to be unjust or immoral, I will not apply it in this court.” Well, let’s just say that my name was certainly not going to be on their list of jurors.
My question for the court is this
“Why even have a jury?”
The role of juror has been filtered into a position of maximum financial award for the plaintiff. My role as a juror will be to see that justice is done, even if it means invalidating existing laws. That is the job of a juror, and don’t let any lawyer, or any lawyer wearing a robe tell you differently. Imagine if all 39 of us had raised our hands in objection to this question. I wonder what they would have done.
Since I don’t see the court system coming around to my way of thinking any time soon, I’ll save all of us the time and money by staying at work. If I had my way, all of these lawyers and the ones wearing robes - would be on a one way trip to the north pole.
“It is not only … [the juror's] right, but his duty, in that case, to find the verdict according to his own best understanding, judgment, and conscience, though in direct opposition to the direction of the court.” - John Adams
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