I seldom pass...
I seldom pass up a chance to make some extra money especially when I don’t have to go anywhere to earn it.
For the right amount of money I’d even drive across town and spend three hours listening to some lawyers “try” their case. That right amount of money would be $400.00.
The advertisement said just that, $400 for three hours.
My wife saw...
My wife saw an advertisement online by some law firm looking for “mock trial” jurors so they could tryout their case before they actually would take it to court for keeps. So the wife signed me up as a prospective juror and I never did hear anything from that group other than the generic “thank you” that came back immediately upon her entering my application.
A good month has gone by since that time but I finally got an email Wednesday evening from that group and an invitation to participate and earn $20 for reading a brief summary of a civil suit and answering a few questions.
Well, $20 is a long ways from $400 but so is 15 minutes versus 3 hours so I figured I might as well give it a try.
The initial email...
The initial email had link to a little quick survey with demographic questions which took all of three minutes to fill out and submit. Upon completing the survey it said if you are selected to participate you would be sent a link to the “case” information and instructions.
Sometimes it is good to try and separate yourself from your competition but how can you do that when it is just demographic questions?
I found a way to do it and I got an invite link for participation in less than 5 minutes, along with a big “thank you” for taking the time to email Christine separately. Christine ?
Yes, Christine...
Yes, Christine. The original email invitation came from a woman named Christine and there were a couple of other members of her law firm that were CC’d on the email; my guess is that those might have been her bosses or lawyers who are actually handling the case.
In the email there was a deadline that the information had to be completed by “Thursday / 10:30 AM (06/10/20).”
Thursday is June 11th not the 10th so I promptly emailed Christine and told her that if I were her client I would be concerned that my legal representation can’t even get days and dates correct. I was kind enough not to hit the “reply all” button; chances are her bosses won’t even catch that error.
In fact...
In fact, if you remember back to the announcement about me paying for errors that I make I had two errors in the post and only one was ever claimed. The second error was actually the date; I had put 05/20/19 instead of 05/19/20. So I do know that people overlook dates quite frequently.
Christine promptly emailed me back and explained that she was really rushed when she had to pull this together and she didn’t double check it before she sent out the invitations. She also said she is looking forward to my participation and my perspective on the case that they are about to try.
The case was...
The case was a civil suit that is being tried in Houston and involves a sexual assault. The district attorney elected not to file criminal charges against the defendant so the plaintiff has sued in civil court for damages. In this case there are additional plaintiffs too besides the alleged assailant.
I guess I'm...
I guess I’m a slow reader because it took me longer than the 15 minutes that the firm suggested it would. It took me that long just to read the plaintiffs side of the case and another ten or twelve minutes to read the two defendants side that they claimed as their defense.
Then I had to answer ten questions and write a brief explanation on how I judged the “evidence” and arguments.
You folks know...
You folks know that I take this “legal” stuff seriously and for me to write anything “brief” when it comes to legal things is damn near impossible for me. My total time involved from first reply to hitting the submit button was about 40 minutes.
Did I get ripped off? Did they intentionally under estimate the time it would take do read the case and complete the questionnaire? Would I do another one of these mock jury trials?
Yes. Yes. Yes.
Lawyers can't shoot...
Lawyers can’t shoot straight with folks on anything. It doesn’t matter who the lawyer is or what side of the case he or she is on; they all take the same oath and that oath precludes them from doing what is “right”. Their whole purpose is to keep the game alive and get someone to pay them for it.
It might have...
It might have taken longer than it was estimated to take but it pays better than if I would have been called for actual jury duty to hear this case. Jury duty in the courts here pays you $6.00 a day. Parking isn’t free either and that will set you back at least $10 a day.
The bus system will give you free ride to and from downtown so you can avoid paying parking but I value my time and my life so I stay as far away from the public buses as possible.
Christine said in...
Christine said in her email that when they do these mock jury trials that they don’t get much male participation so if you are a man and come across an add, like the one I mentioned, you might have a good chance at scoring one of these opportunities to make a couple of extra bucks.
I will probably email Christine in a few days asking her just what side of the case they were on. Also, I would like to know the outcome of the case when and if it does go to trial.
The lawyers for...
The lawyers for the defendants a lot of times will use these mock jury trials just to gauge how much a jury will award in damages if the jury sided with plaintiff and find in favor of their case. That way they can make an offer for settlement and possibly save their clients some money in damages that they would have to pay.
I’m also real curious just how many “jurors” they employ for each of these mock jury trials. How many do they need to get a “good sample” pool? My guess would be at least 36 or more, seeing that a jury consists of twelve jurors.
For now though I will just wait to see if I actually get paid. Once I do I’ll let you know and what else I find out that may be of interest.
My personal opinion...
My personal opinion on civil suit cases is that juries have a tendency to “over award” damages in a lot of cases and to me that just isn’t right. The civil process is designed that you should be “made whole” if you win your suit; not made rich.
Our youngest boy was injured a few years back through no fault of his own at a store. He ended up settling for a fair amount and that is the way it should be.
To many people abuse the civil court system and the only people who consistently win in the deal are the courts and lawyers.
What are your thoughts on the subject?
Until next time,
Sult
Photo credits: Sult N Papper
