I was on the jury for a trademark infringement case tried in federal court. It was a fascinating experience, I enjoyed it immensely. It lasted about three weeks. The only thing I didn’t enjoy was driving back and forth to Trenton (about 35 miles each way) every day. This was back in 2016.
Here is a summary of that lawsuit:
The initial suit: In 2011, ProFoot sued Dr. Scholl’s (at the time owned by a subsidiary of Bayer AG) for trademark infringement and unfair competition.
The trademark claim: ProFoot alleged that Dr. Scholl’s “P.R.O.” logo for its Pain Relief Orthotics product line was confusingly similar to ProFoot’s own trademarks.
The jury verdict: Following a trial in May 2016, a jury sided with Dr. Scholl’s, ruling that the logo did not infringe on ProFoot’s trademarks.
The appeal: In July 2016, a federal judge allowed ProFoot to appeal the verdict to the Third Circuit.
What happened after the appeal was granted?
While news coverage ended with the announcement of the appeal, a review of court records confirms that the lawsuit (identified as ProFoot, Inc. v. Bayer Healthcare LLC, Case 3:11-cv-07079) was terminated, bringing the dispute to a close. There is no public record of the case continuing in the courts.
I’ve been called 5 times and seated on a jury twice.
First was assault on a police officer. It was a rather trivial case. An international grad student lifted a small, household statue in what the officer called a threatening manner and got arrested for doing so. It was part of domestic violence call. The case, I thought, was over-charging and only brought because the woman who called the police refused to press charges. But whatever. The decision took about 12 hours-well past dinner time (11 pm) and the judge refused to let the jury leave or let us order food. His way, I suspect, of forcing to jury to reach a decision. There was one holdout which is why the jury’s decision took so long.
The second was a civil case–auto accident IIRC. But although I was empaneled , I and the other 14 persons for the case spent 3 days sitting in a waiting room while both sides made pre-trial arguments the jury wasn‘t allowed to hear. Finally, Friday, afternoon, the entire panel was released because there was a last minute settlement.
The other 3 times I was called for jury duty, I was never assigned to a case.
The funny story about just duty was, in the 25 years my husband lived in NM, he never had been called for jury duty while I had been called 3x. He used to tease me about it and say he was charmed and they would never call him. So….he finally did get called. The jury summons was in our mailbox when I returned with his body from OOS after he was killed in accident while we were on vacation. I called the County Clerk to tell them he was dead and couldn’t serve and they were just…. yeah, yeah, yeah, we’ve heard this excuse before and insisted I come in person to the County Courthouse with a death certificate to prove he was actually dead.
My dad was a judge and talked to everyone summoned for jury duty before they were seated in prospective panels. He told them because his wife so very unlikely to excuse any of them. That was sobering for many of them.
The jurors I served with were very serious and carefully considered the instructions & evidence. They did a good job, as all juries I’ve met.
I served on a US district court case having to do with file sharing of child porn, and it was as awful as it sounds. Each juror’s chair had a monitor from which we viewed pictures found on the guy’s external hard drives. It was the stuff of nightmares. My fellow jurors were awesome, though. I never heard a single complaint despite the hardships some of them experienced.
Years ago I was on a jury that involved drunk driving. Hearing the evidence took the morning. Then we went for lunch. Then jury deliberation took pretty nearly the entire afternoon. I found it to be a very positive experience. I think that all of the members of the jury were doing our best to be impartial and come to the right conclusion. I was a bit amused and a bit relieved that the bar where we went to lunch, which was right next to the courthouse, gave the option of rather small glasses of beer. I do not think that any of us as members of the jury on a drunk driving case wanted to have a 12 ounce beer for lunch.
More recently I was called to serve on a grand jury, but chose to be excused due to age. At this point I do not think that I would be capable of showing up for three months and staying awake throughout the entire day each day for that long, and I do think that this is age related (which makes the exemption seem reasonable to me). I do wonder however why serving on a grand jury needs to be such a long time commitment.
I served on a jury last year, a civil case where a woman fell down stairs under construction in her apartment building. The case and deliberations took a full week, Monday-Friday. They brought us in lunch everyday. Overall an interesting experience, the jury was a true melting pot of people. It was somehow affirming that people who were so different could discuss the case, the issues presented in court, and arrive at a decision. Bumps along the road, but overall fair verdict and award IMO.
Separately, while telling one of my friends about the experience he told me that for his entire life (he’s 65) he has ignored any jury summons he has received. Completely ignored, with no consequence. Yet. In Cook County/Chicagoland.
I’ve been called twice but was excused via phone the night before as the cases ended up being settled. The last time I was called we were going out of town so I got excused and they told me that I’d be called again in three months but that was pre-covid and I never received anything. (Hopefully I didn’t jinx myself ; )).
My mom was called after she died and I had to mail in a certified copy of her death certificate. Seems like the courts should have access to death records without having family jump through hoops.
In my state I believe the court system links to the DMV, not the social security database which tracks deaths in real time. Which likely explains the delays… I can’t imagine that calling the DMV when a loved one dies is a high priority.
DH has never been called, and he has had a drivers license and has been a registered voter in this state longer than I have.
DS was sent a summons, but he was a resident of a different state. You would think they would have been able to find that out!
I recently received a questionnaire regarding jury duty. In March, I will hit the age at which I’m no longer eligible. I’ll be out of the country all of January. Of course, I will defer if I’m summoned in December. I won’t even be here in January to know…if they send something in January.
Sat on a jury once, 40+ years ago, a civil suit. Guy slipped and fell in a late night quick food place. Didn’t ask for a specific amount of money. It was actually a fun comedy to be part of.
Plaintiff had a lawyer who looked like his nephew who just got out of law school doing his first case, seemed very nervous. Plaintiff admitted under cross that he had been drinking. He had witnesses but couldn’t find them—they were two “ladies of the evening” , entered the establishment with one on each arm!
Restaurant owner had a shark of an attorney, guy looked like Peter Graves of Mission Impossible fame. He absolutely sliced, diced, and skewered the plaintiff on the stand, with dry asides dripping with snark and irony!! It was winter and the company who provided the non-skid mats for the establishment testified for the defendant. It was like watching a master at work.
In the jury room, we all looked at each other and almost simultaneously said the plaintiff had no case, but we couldn’t return a verdict after 5 minutes of deliberation, so we waited a respectful 30 minutes.
My wife was almost on a jury for a gruesome murder but thanked me for indirectly getting her off—the murder took place in the town where I taught, and the court felt my connection to the town might have led her to hear a name at some point that might be connected to the case. She still is happy I indirectly got her dismissed, as the jury pool was warned that the photos they would be shown would be very disturbing….
I get summons regularly but haven’t been called even once. Mr. B sat on a jury once - a negligence case involving an insurance agent. The judge hinted that he wanted to watch the solar eclipse… so did all of the others. Mr.’s takeaway from the case: never go without underinsured motorist coverage!
Little kid is a summons magnet! She did serve once during her college holiday break. She said one of the jurors was a patent lawyer and tried to get out using the “I am a lawyer card.” No go. He was told that because of the holidays, the jury pool was quite limited, and anyway, it was not a patent case, . It was a quick criminal trial.
Most of you are pretty lucky. Both my husband and I get summoned yearly. They let you defer once for 3 months. Our service is 5 days and you call the night before to see if you have to appear. If lucky the 5 days pass and you’re good for another year.
I’ve sat on two juries but I’ve been sat in the potential juror pool numerous times. In those cases I keep my fingers crossed they get a full panel before they get to me. I’ve also been in the box once for juror selection. That was a child sexual abuse of a young girl. The judge let me go as I said I could not be impartial.
The first case was a commercial fisherman sited by the US Coast guard for lobster fishing out of season. We found him not guilty but if he had been found guilty he would have lost his license and livelihood. It was a pretty weak case.
The 2nd was two years ago and it was an accusation of a young man of threatening a group of young men in a college town. It ended in a mistrial as the sheriff deputy who testified gave up info he shouldn’t have. The defendant was African American and I felt if he had been white he wouldn’t have been charged.
My husband has been on several, mostly small quick cases. He was on one longer trial which was gang related. The jurors were concerned for their safety.
My last jury was a mix of ages. There was a college student, multiple retired people in the younger retirement years. People who worked in tech, a hospital worker, several who worked at a university and also county workers. One juror was the manager of a Starbucks and said she knew several of the deputies who were going to testify. She even knew their orders.
My spouse was just excused- today- since the jury was full and so now he won’t be called for another three years.
I don’t have a single family member who doesn’t get called. My mom served on a sequestered jury for a cop killing many years ago. I was in HS –mom living at a Holiday Inn for two weeks, she could call home at night but we couldn’t even ask “How are you” since the risk of her divulging something about the case (“I have a headache, the testimony was so complicated today”) was too great. She learned every time she was called over the years that school teachers are in high demand as jurors.
Someone who works for me just ended Grand Jury duty- was out of work for three weeks.
So you ask who serves on juries? In my experience- everyone. Even my law enforcement relatives get called although I think they get excused 100% of the time. But they still show up to watch the video, have the bailiff explain voir dire, fill in the form to get their parking validated.
Neither my wife nor I have been called in TN. Perhaps some have but I don’t know anyone…obviously someone is getting called. I can’t recall anyone being out and I’ve worked in Nashville and now my job is based in another state.
In my city, you’re required to serve for 2 months. Roughly 2 dozen cases or so are on the docket, but most are settled beforehand. Each day prior (up until 9am that morning) you have to call to see if it’s settled or if you have to report. Once you report, they pick 24 people in group to potentially be on the jury. From those 24, 12 plus 2 alternates are chosen by the lawyers.
I’ve been called to serve once, but never got picked for any of the 3-4 non settled cases that period. However, I got my jury questionnaire form a month ago, so I’ll likely be called again in the next year.
H OTOH has been called four times!!! He HATES it - whereas I would like to do it! He got on one jury. At the time it was the largest medical malpractice suit award in our city.
He also got the same questionnaire I did and was so mad. You’re not supposed to be called within 3 years. The questionnaire came after 2 years 9 months, so we’re hoping that will be good enough. Three other people in my office got the questionnaire too. It seems to come in cycles.
I have to say…the folks on my jury in 1988 were a lot of fun. When you are sitting in the jury room before deliberations, you can’t talk about the case…at.all. So we discussed what we all did.
One person was a toy inventor (you would recognize the names of his toys if I posted them). One person owned a resale shop and that was way before resale shops were “in”. One person was a hospital lab worker. Two of us were educators but completely different fields.
Our courthouse was in a trendy town with a lot of really nice restaurants. On the first day, we decided that we would have lunch at a different one every day (when we hit the 2 week mark, we had to start duplicates).
When we were seated, we created a schedule for who would stop at Dunkin and get coffee and donuts, and what kinds. Let’s just say…the coffee pot in the jury room looked like it hadn’t been cleaned ever. I was the first day, and arrived with the coffees and donuts. The clerk of courts took them away from me saying no food or drink was allowed to be carried into the courthouse. I handed him the stuff, and politely told him he had to go to the (pricey) coffee shop a few doors away and if he was allowed, to get us coffee (he WAS allowed). Well…less than 5 minutes later, he appeared at the jury room and told us he had gotten it approved for us to bring coffee and donuts every day. Good.
Some of us carpooled from the same town (about a 20 minute drive).
The first day after lunch, we were window shopping and I saw this great flannel dress and said I was going to buy it the last day if it was less than $100. It was $99 and they had my size. I had that dress for many years!
Honestly, the jury folks I was with were fun. For about five years, we had an annual reunion jury lunch at one of the nice restaurants. How funny is that?
Wow—our jury never bonded like yours! That does sound fun! I was glad to have served.
D has gotten many summons but has been out of town all the time as she mostly lives in LA. The last time she got her summons for HI, she got her MD to send in a note that she is medically disqualified because she physically can’t sit as long as is required.
As far as I know, S has never been summoned. H has been summoned but recused because he has been a defendant in a lawsuit and also a victim of a burglary.
My sister served on the Grand Jury & found it pretty interesting. I forget how long she served but it was a month or longer.
I was so excited to be called about 15 years ago, but then I was the alternate. But then someone didn’t show the second day and I got to be seated! It was a criminal case where someone was exchanging drugs for sex in a school zone. Guilty. I think DH was called but then got the call where they didn’t need him (or he called to determine that?). DS20 got a summons but he had moved out of state, so that never happened.
Growing up I had the impression that jury duty would be a drag, though I don’t remember my parents ever serving or discussing it, but when I said something along those lines, my FIL, a lawyer, took it very seriously and lectured me about civic duty. So from that time on, I always wanted to do it, and then I did it.
My sister was on a grand jury, and that was a real PITA. They did accommodate her having to leave early one day a week for childcare reasons.
. It was a quick criminal trial.