Wait Grows Longer for Missouri Jurors
Starting January 1, 2011, persons called to jury duty in Missouri may have to wait even longer for a trial to begin, according to a recent article published in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. With the beginning of the new year comes a new rule: courts must allow attorneys in a civil trial to check the statewide court website to see if potential jurors told the truth about whether they were involved in litigation in the past.
The new rule arises from a March case heard by the Missouri Supreme Court. In that case, a medical malpractice suit, attorneys learned after the end of the trial that one of the jurors had not told the truth when asked if she had been involved in civil litigation before. The female juror had been sued three times in the past three years. The Missouri Supreme Court ordered a new trial in that case and also ruled that attorneys must be given time to check Missouri’s online listing of cases. The online check is intended to give the attorneys the information they need to object to particular jurors on the basis of their honesty before the trial begins.
Being involved in a civil case doesn’t prevent a Missouri resident from serving on a jury. However, attorneys may want to know about previous cases because a juror’s experience in a previous case may affect how he or she will respond to the case at hand. For instance, a juror who has filed a personal injury suit before may be more sympathetic to a personal injury plaintiff.
Choosing a jury is just one of the complex tasks handled by an experienced Missouri personal injury lawyer on behalf of his or her clients. The St. Louis accident injury attorneys at Page Law have the practical trial experience to protect your legal rights in court. If you have suffered an injury due to another person’s negligence, please get in touch with the personal injury lawyers at Page Law as soon as possible. Call us today at (314) 322-8515 for a free and confidential case evaluation.
