In cases involving vision injuries, and in all other injury cases, it is necessary to try to get jurors who are sympathetic to the plaintiff. Here is a list of questions you can use for your case. Any questions? Call me at 610 642 7676. To read more about sensory loss cases, click here.
A. Attorneys and Parties
1. Does anyone on this jury panel know me?
2. Do any of you know Joe Jones, who represents the defendant, City of Philadelphia or anyone from the Office of the City Solicitor?
3. Does anyone on this panel know either of my clients, John Smith and Jane Doe?
4. Does anyone know these potential witnesses: William Anderson, Donna Johnson or Robert Thomas?
B. Personal
5. Can you each tell me your current marital status?
6. Are any of you or your immediate families employed by a company engaged in the casualty or liability insurance business?
7. Are any of you or your immediate families stockholders in any company which, in whole or in part, is engaged in the casualty or liability insurance company?
8. Are any of you or your immediate families now employed, or have any of you or your immediate families ever been employed, as a claims adjuster or otherwise by a company or concern which, in whole or in part, was engaged in the casualty or liability insurance business?
9. Are any of you or your immediate families now employed, or have any of you or your immediate families ever been employed by the City of Philadelphia?
10. Can I ask each of you to tell me the type of work in which you and your spouse, if you are married, are at present involved and for how long?
11. Have any of you, or has any member of your family, ever been involved in a auto accident which resulted in the filing of any type of claim, either by or against you or some member of your family?
12. Have any of you ever been on a jury which tried a auto accident? When?
13. Have any of you ever sat on a jury panel in any kind of case? Type of case? When?
14. Most people know the facts must be proven beyond a reasonable doubt in criminal cases. Does everyone understand and accept that this is a civil case where facts are proven by a preponderance of the evidence which is not nearly as strict as a test as beyond a reasonable doubt, and requires much less evidence? In other words, does everyone understand that the test is not beyond a reasonable doubt, but rather “more likely than not?”
C. Attitudes
15. Is there anyone on this panel who feels that a person injured by someone else’s conduct should not sue for monetary compensation as a result of those injuries?
16. How many in this room feel that persons injured in an accident as a result of the negligence of another person should just bear his/her own losses and pain and suffering?
17. Has anyone here or any members of their families or any close acquaintance ever been sued? If so, did you feel that lawsuit against you was unjustified? Would the fact that you were sued make it difficult for you to sit as a fair and impartial juror in this case?
18. Is there anyone here who has any feelings for any reason against persons claiming money damages in personal injury cases?
19. Is there anyone among the panel who believes that there are too many personal injury lawsuits?
20. Is there anyone on this panel who, for religious or any other reason, does not believe in medicine, in doctors, or that a person may require professional medical treatment for physical pain and suffering?
D. Damages
21. How many in this room have any personal convictions, or fixed opinions, or religious beliefs that might make it difficult for you to award substantial compensation to these plaintiffs for the injuries they suffered, if the evidence during this trial supports such damages?
22. Do you agree that the size of the award you may make in this case should be in proportion to the seriousness of the injuries proven during the trial?
23. Have any of you ever been involved in, or is there now pending, either by you or against you, any litigation growing out of a civil action for negligence and in particular, with regard to personal injuries?
24. Can each of you make a commitment to me that you will pay close attention to and fully consider and calculate the value of each element of damages on which His Honor the Judge instructs you at the end of this trial in reaching your verdict rather than just selecting an amount of money that feels as if it should be enough regardless of the evidence and the instructions, assuming the evidence will support a verdict for the plaintiffs?
25. Does anyone disagree with the concept that the City of Philadelphia has the same status as any other defendant and that it has duties and obligations, which may render it legally responsible if it fails to fulfill those obligations?
26. Would anyone have difficulty returning a verdict against the City of Philadelphia if you felt that it had failed to fulfill the obligations imposed on it by law?
E. GENERAL
27. Is there any reason whatever, why any member of this panel cannot sit and listen to the evidence in this case for several days, paying close and careful attention to it? Any reason, whether physical, or any other, why any of you cannot do that?
28. As you know, each party to a lawsuit is entitled to have his or her case tried by an unbiased and impartial jury, free from all prejudices or influences that would affect the decision. An attorney for any of the parties has a duty to his client to see to it that such a jury is selected, and this is my purpose in these questions. It is not my purpose to pry into your private life or to cause you embarrassment, but only to secure for my clients the fair trial to which they are entitled. I, therefore, ask you whether any of you know of any other matter, anything which I have not covered in my questions, which would for any reason influence you or prevent you from rendering a fair and impartial verdict in the case?
29. Is there any reason whatever, whether I have mentioned it or not, why any of you feel you cannot be fair and impartial jurors in this case?
30. Is there any member of the panel who would, for any reason whatsoever, prefer not to sit on this jury?
