USVI-On-Line

This is a little off topic but I need some reassurance/advice. We are leaving June 2nd for STJ. I received a summons for Jury Duty for May 22nd which I called to change as I didn't want to get involved in a long trial (it's Detroit, so who knows?) No problem, they changed it to August 6th. The next day, I receive another summons which says I have to report May 29th. Hmmmm, I thought we had changed the date to August 6th. I called to clarify and sure enough, August 6th. She said maybe it was another court, I didn't look at it that closely. Sooo, I get home and take a closer look. Sure enough, a different court. I am supposed to call the Friday before I am scheduled to report, May 25th. If I am not chosen to report for that day, I am on call for 2 weeks to report!! Downside here is that I can't speak to a human to reschedule. I have to submit in writing by mail or fax why I can't be available. Here is their definition of hardship. "If jury service will result in undue hardship or extreme inconvenience because of grave illness in your family or other serious problem, and you want to ask for a temporary excuse, you must make your request in writing." To make matters worse, I can only find out if my excuse is granted when I call the Friday before I would be reporting. To me it would be EXTREME HARDSHIP if we are unable to go. I am going to send a letter and copies of our airline and hotel confirmation. I am being unnecessarily worried??? Talk about getting the double whammy. I haven't been summoned for Jury Duty since 1995, and two within 1 weeks time and right before vacation. Kind of eerie.

Forgot to add, Failure to obey this summons may be punishable by fine and/or imprisonment. Yikes.

I would send the letter or whatever explaining your situation. I am thinking worse case you'd have to reschedule and actually perform jury duty. I doubt you'll go to prison. Though you could always just run away to STJ forever.

I have a coworker who got on the jury duty list for DC and it must be hard for DC to find qualified jurors because it seems like she was going to jury duty more than she was coming to work!

If you send in the form you should be just fine. I send in letters for people who work at my company all the time and I have never had anyone not excused with the exception of Federal Court.

No Worries!

Thanks for the reassurance. Lets just say that if my request is denied for whatever reason, I will report as scheduled and find myself a human to talk to. Can you tell I get easily stressed when vacation could be in jeopardy

Very similar situation happened to my mom before I took her on her 50th birthday trip. She wrote a letter explaining that inability to reschedule the date would cause serious financial hardship on her family (me- who paid for the trip). They rescheduled her, no prison time. I'm betting you'll be okay.
I think when it comes down to it, they just want people to respond. I didn't know this but apparently a LOT of people just don't show up for duty.

Hubby has jury duty Monday! I have been at jusry duty where they had to go pick people up! It was crazy! What Pi****me off was that I had to sit there and wait for them! Write the letter! I am sure they will let you off! If you have done jury duty and found the person guilty or didn't give them money you are sure to get off anyway! i have had both happen to me and havne't had to continue my service for any since! I still get called but I get released the first day!

Oh, write the letter, document when you sent it and all, and don't worry about it. By all means, enjoy your trip.

P.S. I had jury duty last summer and two people in the pool got up to say they were leaving within days for scheduled vacations, and were immediately excused.

I will assume that the second jury duty notice did notcome certified mail, therefore I would throw it in the garbage, say I never got it, and go on vacation. Let the court prove you got it!!!

I would send in the documentation as well and not worry about it. There was an article a few months ago in our local paper mentioning how many people (a lot!) skip/do not report and there's absolutely no follow up by the courts to make the people accountable. Not enough time or money for them to follow up. A sad state of affairs, however, a positive spin for your situation.

I am sure if you write the letter you will be fine. I once wrote a letter to get out of jury duty because they wanted me to serve in a courthouse that was about 20 miles away and I lived in the city and did not have a car. They let me off for that, even though I could have gotten there via train.

Another time I was called I forgot to send back the notice (I really did!). I got the second summons and responded right away, but they told me they had enough people and I did not need to report. I am sure you will be able to reschedule. Send the letter right away so that you can get some peace of mind.

If you can't get out of it I could go in your place it's the least I could do.

I am an attorney and, though I never see the inside of a court these days, I did a brief stint during law school in my county's DA's office. Getting excused from jury duty or getting it rescheduled is usually no problem. I wouldn't go and bank on getting excused. Instead, I would write and ask that your jury duty be rescheduled. Explain that you have $5000 or whatever in this trip that you cannot get back and not going would be a great hardship, but you be more than happy to fulfill your civic duty at a later date and time.

By the way, if you did go, the judge would likely let you leave b/c you have one of those situations where you'd be so distracted and p*ssed off by missing the trip that you'd likely make a bad juror anyway.

Best of luck!

Thanks for all of your responses! I am going to get the documentation together and write the letter tonight. The part that I don't like is not finding out until the Friday before. I'm hoping for the best as I had no trouble rescheduling the other Jury Duty. If I do have to report, I will explain my situation in person. You are definitely right that I would be one disgruntled juror!