No Good Deed...

[gerisullivan]

Two pieces of mail were delivered to my new box today. One was from Springfield. It contained a summons for jury service.

WTF? I just served.

Oh. These are the feds, not the state. "If you served the one day/one trial in any state court, it does not excuse you from the Federal Court."

Okay, understood, but it gets worse. Significantly worse. Federal Court is an 8-week, on call system. It means not knowing until the Friday before service starts when one needs to report. From what I can tell, it's then a matter of calling in weekly and going over to Springfield whenever I'm required to. Two months of uncertainty is going to make it awfully damned hard to commit to project delivery dates with clients.

They say vacations, medical and business appointments are allowed during the term of jury service if the Clerk's office is notified in advance, but I plan to be out of state when jury service starts and I can only find out if a deferral is accepted 10 days prior...which is after my trip will have started. Add to that the uncertainties of winter weather and travel. Not good.

The eight weeks cover what is traditionally one of the busy periods for my business. A third or more of my gross annual income traditionally comes from work done during those eight weeks. It's not a good time to add a large dose of uncertainty into my life. I'm already dealing with more uncertainty than I would prefer thanks to some upcoming medical tests. Oh, the joy.

Unlike the civilized Massachusetts system, there isn't an automatic deferral option to reschedule jury service once. Oh, yeah, and no cell phones allowed in the Federal Courthouse. No computers or other electronics, either. Heck, they don't even allow beverages to be brought in.

All in all, this sucks. I take the importance and need for jury duty seriously, but this is whiplash, coming as it does as a complete surprise...and a harsh one at that compared to the totally reasonable, easy to deal with Massachusetts system.

I'm going to take them at their word on vacations, medical appointments, and business appointments scheduled before the summons arrived and notify them of all of them that are already on my calendar. Ghu knows what I'll do about the ones that aren't. I'm also going to apply for a deferral. From what I can tell from the information provided, there are times when Federal jury service would not constitute an hardship to my business and life. Well, the two months of uncertainty will always be a hardship in terms of clients and project scheduling, but there are times that it's likely to be problematic but manageable. In January and February, it looks potentially incapacitating. March, too.

Here's hoping they're willing to reschedule me for the spring. And that they manage to tell me before December 26th that I don't have to appear in court on Monday, January 5th.

Arrrgh. Did they really have to come up with this kind of punishment to counterbalance the overall ease of my first experience with jury duty, the one that took place just 18 days ago?

Comments

Yes we can? Oh no you don't!

[dinogrl.livejournal.com]

Wow. That is major sucktastic news.
My deepest condolences. I hope you can bang the heartship hammer into the minds of these folks...oh, wait, it's the feddies we're dealing with.

((hugs))

Re: Yes we can? Oh no you don't!

[dinogrl.livejournal.com]

oops...I meant HARDship...

Re: Yes we can? Oh no you don't!

[gerisullivan.livejournal.com]

Yeah, but it's my heart that's hammering, so heartship fits the HARDship it would be.

[drpaisley.livejournal.com]

I got a MO state summons in '05. The first two weeks of the month involved coincided with our trip to Interthingy and environs. I called the office, explained the situation, and they told me to write them a note with the information. I received a notice of deferral for the first two weeks before we left, and every time I called in thereafter, the magic voice told me my presence was not required.

Contact them asap, and here's hoping it works out for you.

[gerisullivan.livejournal.com]

It's the two months of uncertainty that's making my head explode. I suppose I should be grateful that I wasn't summoned for Grand Jury service -- that lasts for 18 months! The web page says those folks typically meet one day a week for the duration. Yikes.

This 8-week deal is boggling enough.

[sethb.livejournal.com]

At least with Grand Jury it's OK to miss a lot of them.

Federal court service differs a lot by location. In New York, it was the same as state (and they cross-exempted as well).

Dr-paisley got that notice/. he beat me to the draw!

[dragonet2.livejournal.com]

for our Federal court about four weeks before we were to leave for our Glasgow trip. Toi start the first day we were out of the country.

He called or mailed in (don't remember) that we already had reservations, they mailed back that he should just call Mondays once he got back.

Our local (county) judges are hard-ass on sitting jury duty, they let you know that in the 'informational" film they show at the start of every jury service. Last time I was called, it was for a Tuesday docket set, we sat around until noon and got dismissed plus a 2-year excuse from the county courts.

[stevegreen.livejournal.com]

I've been lucky enough to avoid jury duty so far (which I guess comes to 30 years), but Blair/Brown have been carefully following the Thatcher scheme to eradicate juries in all the cases in which the UK Govt doesn't care about the outcome.

[daedala.livejournal.com]

Wow, that is sucktastic.

[jane-dennis.livejournal.com]

Ow! Hope you can work out something you can live with.

It never seems to occur to bureaucrats that self-employed people have different constraints on their lives than people who can just tell their boss, Sorry, you have to let me off for jury duty. (At least here, they have to let you off.)

[marsgov.livejournal.com]

Jury duty is a form of slavery. Your labor is free; since it has no value, they couldn't care less how much of your time is wasted. As for the turmoil and uncertainty in your life — not an issue to your masters.

[gerisullivan.livejournal.com]

I do not see jury duty as a form of slavery. And, in this case, my labor isn't free. There's a daily stipend in addition to a mileage, tolls, and parking reimbursement for the days I am required to appear.

Much of my distress is specifically due to the fact that I do believe jury service is a civic duty, one that I am obligated to perform when called upon to do so. I hate asking even for a deferral, even though I believe a valid argument could be made to be completely excused given that the way they have the Federal Court jury service system set up here, it will make it all but impossible for me to commit to client and project deadlines for the time I serve.

Mostly, it's reminding me of just how close to the edge I live. I need more flex, more of a cushion, to step back from the edge of the metaphorical cliff even a foot or two. There are lots of things in life that can cause turmoil and uncertainty for eight weeks or more. Up until now, I've always been able to pack my computer along and to my best of continue working on projects and meeting deadlines through those times. But there are some circumstances where that's not an option, and I need to be able to pay bills and figure out business workarounds during them.

And I'm working toward that. I'm just years away from achieving it.

[arkuat]

I commend you on your serious attitude toward the duty. Like you, I've only served once, on a California jury (I had never even thought about the possibility that I might be called to serve on a federal jury before I read your post), and my jury duty was an easy two-day trial regarding a Section 8 eviction, and came in the summer, when I was seasonally underemployed.

I expect that although they are presenting an unreasonably hardass front for whatever reasons they think they need to, if you are persistent in your research and willing to wait on hold at the right telephone numbers, you will be able to defer your federal jury service until a time more convenient to you. Expressing to the officials in charge of arranging such things that you are more than willing to serve, only not just this month, ought to cut a lot of ice with them. I expect they are used to taking calls from people who consider jury duty a form of slavery, and will find your calls a refreshing relief by comparison.

It still sucks that you will have to do so much work just to reschedule, though.

[marsgov.livejournal.com]

I respect your opinion on this topic; in fact, I even agree with it in part (but only in part).

[marahsk.livejournal.com]

It *is* one's civil duty, and kudos for that attitude. But really, there's no reason to feel bad about getting it deferred to a time that would be less of a hardship for you.

[mjlayman.livejournal.com]

Argh. I hope they understand and give you a better time period. I was never called for jury duty when I was well, and then soon after I moved out here, I was called for duty twice in the city and wrote back that there had to be no steps and either only sitting up for a few hours at a time or a recliner and they excused me. Haven't asked me since.

[ookpik.livejournal.com]

Oh, that stinks. Good luck with explaining the situation to them (and getting a reasonable response).

[kip-w.livejournal.com]

It's wretched to be in suspense for that long. I applaud your civic attitude, though. Would that I might meet my test that well, should it come.