Jury Duty

For the past four weeks I have had the privilege and honor to serve as a jury member on a civil trial.  It truly was a fascinating experience.  I left with a new good friend and a true appreciation of the American legal system (as well as lawyers and paralegals).  

The case went like this:

Plaintiff:  two general managers from Coco's bakery/restaurant

Defense:  Catalina Restaurant Group (owner's of Coco's/Carrows)

The plaintiff's asserted that they were inappropriately classified as exempt employees and as such they deserved overtime pay, meal time compensation, and damages for incorrect pay stubs.  

This meant that the defense actually had the burden of proof.  They had to prove that the position was correctly classified AND that each plaintiff actually performed their jobs as exempt employees.  

After a long and grueling process that literally had friends testifying against friends, people crying on the stand, and the testimony of multiple experts, the jury ultimately decided that the defense did prove the correct classification and so no additional pay was required.

After the trial, some of the lawyers stayed to talk with the jury members who were willing to have a conversation.  This part of the experience was the most eye opening.  This is when I learned what key pieces of information had been held back from the trial.  What I learned told me that if I had been given ALL of the evidence, my job as a juror would have been more clear and still harder.  

The trial ended up coming down to sympathy on the side of the plaintiff but hard evidence on the side of the defense.  With the additional evidence I heard about, I know I would have felt even more sympathy for the plaintiffs and even more clear evidence on the side of the defense.  Which I think means the judge did a very good job determining what evidence was admissible.