May 2002

Yes! The world is not full of mindless morons!

I served jury duty last week. Three days in the world's most uncomfortable chairs probably gave me more respect for fellow man than I've had in a long, long time.

After hearing about such injustices as that old biddy who got awarded millions for burning herself on McDonald's coffee, I was not looking forward to serving on a jury. I was hoping I'd get dismissed for any reason, from my gothish jet black hair, to having had law firms as web clients, to my husband having worked as a private investigator. But now, I'm glad I was put on a trial. (And even more glad I wasn't picked for another case I heard about... one that was going to last at least three weeks!)

Without giving any details of the case, the plaintiff had been in a minor car accident six years ago, and was claiming that this accident left him permenantly disabled. Nevermind that he didn't want the police or ambulance called at the accident scene. Nevermind that went back to work days after the accident. Nevermind that he had a work accident one month after the car accident. Nevermind that when he did leave his job, it was for family leave, not medical leave. Nevermind that he had other health problems that would also render him disabled. Nope. All his problems stemmed from one tiny little accident, and he thought he should get almost half a million dollars for it.

I was worried that some of the older members of our jury would be more sympathetic to this man's plight. Even being the callous bitch I am, I felt sorry for him. His life truly sucked. But I didn't think any significant or permenant health problems were caused by that accident. But maybe that was just my take...

The second we went to deliberate, one of the older jurors said, "I don't want to give him anything." After a half-hour bitch-session that this guy made us sit through three god-awful boring days of testimony and depositions over such a petty incident, we all agreed. He go nothing.

It felt goooood.