California Labor and Employment Law

Voir Dire in Other Parts of the Country

It looks like I’m in a “jury duty” state of mind today. Here’s a second interesting post regarding juries, this time the process of selecting a jury.

Just to set the context up, some lawyers believe it is important to have as much time as necessary to conduct voir dire (a fancy way of saying “interview the prospective jurors to weed out the biased ones”). Many judges, however, prefer to limit voir dire because they want to speed the process along and voir dire can be very time-consuming. (more…)

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A Good Jury Duty Experience (For a Change)

It seems one of America’s favorite pastimes is swapping stories and strategies about how to get out of jury duty. Before I knew any better, I was just as guilty of it as the next person. But if you really think about it, aside from voting, jury duty is one of the few times you are asked to get up from your couch and actually do something for your country. Jury duty is our justice system’s way of handing ordinary citizens the judge’s gavel (more…)

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Plaintiff Gets $30,300, His Lawyers Get $1.1 mil.

Many people whose rights have been violated are unable to find an attorney who’s willing to take their case. That is because the amount of money at stake is often just too small to warrant an attorney’s time. Sure we lawyers are interested in doing justice, but we have to feed our families too, just like everyone else.

That is why many civil rights laws also provide for a separate award of (more…)

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What Really Goes On in Jury Rooms?

Much of the Western world depends on a system of a jury of peers to decide the fate of litigants. Given this key role which juries play in dispensing justice, it’s amazing how little most people, and even trial lawyers, know about what really goes on in jury rooms. The jury is for all intents and purposes a black box.

This is why you may want to check out JuryExperiences.org. This is a website devoted exclusively to discussing and sharing experiences about “what really happens on juries”. If you have a jury experience (more…)

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Proof That Arbitration Is Bad for Employees

A little while back, I had posted about arbitration and whether or not it is good or bad for employees to resolve their claims against their employers or co-workers. Arbitration is the resolution of legal disputes normally handled through lawsuits by instead hiring a private judge to rule on the dispute. My view has always been that arbitration is bad because it (more…)

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We’ve Been Named “Blawg of the Day”

Renowned legal website Inter-Alia.net has been kind enough to name us as their Blawg of the Day. Inter-Alia.net is an Internet legal research weekly which discusses legal blogs of note, legal news, etc. that is published by Tom Mighell. Thank you and a tip of the hat right back at ya!

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Harris Poll: 3 of 5 Americans Believe Juries Fair

Harris Interactive has conducted a poll that reveals some interesting things about jury duty and jury trials in America.

Here are some of the key findings:

1. A majority (65%) of Americans have been called to jury duty, but only a quarter actually served on a jury.
2. 3 out of 5 Americans believe juries can be fair and impartial all or most of the time; 2 out of 5 think juries are only occasionally, rarely or never fair and impartial.
3. Blacks were less likely to trust a jury than Whites and Hispanics.
4. More Americans trust a jury (50%) than a judge (23%) to give a fair verdict.
5. In the West, 89% of those who served on juries reported reaching a verdict (higher than any other region of the U.S.), while only 9% said the case settled.
6. The more education one has, the more likely one can avoid serving on a jury.

(more…)

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U.S. Workers: Say Farewell to Job Growth

I’m no economist but I’ve long thought that one of the biggest problems facing the US economy is the fact that the US worker has become increasingly irrelevant in the global marketplace, largely because of the loss of US leadership in numerous key industries. Long gone are the days when US companies sat atop the pinnacle of global industry. (more…)

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Longshorewoman Wins $1.2 Million Jury Award for Retaliation

Fellow attorney Tony Luti reports a $1.2 million award to a longshorewoman in a retaliation lawsuit against her employer, Pacific Maritime Association. Plaintiff Catherine McCoy was a third generation dockworker who had worked the waterfront for 18 years. She and five other African-American women had filed a lawsuit against employer Pacific Maritime Association (PMA) in 1998. (more…)

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Video: Police Strip Search of Ohio Woman Called Outrageous

As you may know, employment law is just a subset of civil rights in general. I don’t normally cover non-workplace civil rights issues, but a news story I’ve come across seems just too egregious to let pass.

In Stark County, Ohio, 41-year old Hope Steffey was the victim of assault by a relative. Steffey’s cousin called 911 and a Stark (more…)

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