Georgia's Jury Duty, Part 3

Welcome back to the trial.

By the way, did we mention that the jury included three nurses and one paramedic? All of these medical professionals were amazed that both sides would empanel a jury so full of medical people. The only possible explanation is that the plaintiff’s side thought the jury would be sympathetic, after all the medical/health profession is known for being caring. As for the defense, maybe they thought the jury would be able to read between the lines.

At some point the plaintiff’s family car was paid for, whether by the defendant or by his insurance. The plaintiff went back to work sometime in October. The defense objected that she was going to a chiropractor so far from home, but the defense countered that it was very close to her work.

During the trial the plaintiff’s lawyer brought in the Emergency Room doctor that treated the plaintiff. Georgia enjoyed seeing the doctor testify as he was very specific in his testimony about what he meant. He did not allow either lawyer to twist his testimony into something other than what he meant.

The chiropractor who treated the plaintiff was brought in, and explained his treatment of the plaintiff. This included a demonstration of the different treatment modalities. The jury was very interested in his testimony, but not for a good reason as far as the plaintiff was concerned. The jury picked up on a number of things that the plaintiff was probably hoping they would ignore.

The plaintiff also testified at the trial. Like the testimony of the chiropractor, the jury found her testimony illustrative.

Closing arguments were boring for our juror nurse. While she understands well the concept of: “tell them what you are going to tell them, tell them, then tell them what you’ve told them”, it does get rather repetitious. Once again the plaintiff’s lawyer declaimed that the case was about taking responsibility. The defense reiterated that the case was about money. Finally the judge read his instructions to the jury.

At about 4:15 pm on Friday the jury waited in a separate room while the court chose the alternate juror by lot, and that juror was “voted off the island”. Then the jury started to deliberate. The jury chose a foreman. The group decided that the defendant was actually guilty of improper lookout and causing an accident, which is what he admitted. The accident did cause some injury as the plaintiff was hurting at the scene after all. There was just enough time to start asking each of the jurors

Since court stops promptly at 5pm, further deliberations were postponed until the next Tuesday. Stay tuned!