Grand Jury summons for self employed - economic hardship
Wally
incorporated my one man business to make it more legitimate for
employers.
I recently received a Grand Jury summons in the mail and am wondering
how I might proceed in providing an excuse to not appear. Not because
I don't want to do my civic duty but instead because it would really
be an economic hardship for me.
I have one and only one client so 100% of my income comes from working
daily at this client. Is it feasible to send the court clerk ahead of
time proof of my employment and/or wages, in addition to comprehensive
corporate financial statements and the previous corporate year's
taxes? The jury summons states that 'no excuses will be considered on
the date scheduled to report'.
Thoughts are appreciated.
Thanks,
Walter
nos...@isp.com
> [ As the sole owner/operator of my small business whose
> livelihood is dependent on being available to work daily for
> my sole client, I contend that I would be subjected to
> severe economic hardship if I had to serve on a grand jury,
> but I recently received a notice that I am required to do
> so. ]
Have you verified that the summons to appear for grand jury service
says, and that it is the fact, that you have already been selected to
serve compared with whether you have been summoned for the purpose of
it being determined when you appear that you actually will be assigned
to a grand jury panel?
> Is it feasible to send the court clerk ahead of time
> proof of my employment and/or wages, in addition to
> comprehensive corporate financial statements and the
> previous corporate year's taxes? The jury summons states
> that 'no excuses will be considered on the date scheduled
> to report'.
Is this all it states in this connection? Note that you do not
actually say that you have read it and whatever if any of its
accompanying documents that may (and probably do?) answer your
questions. However, that you say that the summons includes a
cautionary that no excuses will be considered on the date scheduled to
report suggests that there probably are excuses that would be
considered if made as/when prescribed before the appearance date in
question.
It is therefore significant (for you) that, besides you not reporting
whether you've read carefully (emphasis on the "fully" as well as
"care" element of "carefully) the document(s) you received, you do not
say whether you've spoken with the office of the D.A. who caused the
issuance of the subpoena or with the court's clerk who administers
grand jury proceedings or that you've confirmed that there is not a
web site that may answer your questions.
You might want to note, too, that your presumption that your serving
on the grand jury in question (if when you appear you are selected to
do so) probably will subject you to the hardship you fear may not be
credible; for it may be (as you very probably also can verify before
the date specified for your appearance if you are diligent in your
inquiries) that, even if you are selected to serve as a grand juror,
the grand jury will meet only two or maybe at most three times a week
for a limited number of weeks and, at that, for only a comparatively
small portion of the days when in session -- yet it is you who
emphasizes that you are "independent" in your role as a "contractor"
and therefore presumably also comparatively free in you determining
during what hours during what days you have to be available for your
client for you to service it and to be reasonably well assured that it
will continue to retain your services. Further in this latter
connection, it may also be (depending on the answer you do not yet
provide to the "where?" question) that there is law in the
jurisdiction in question to the effect that the services of someone in
your position may not be lawfully terminated if the reason for the
termination is a law-imposed requirement of grand jury service -- also
an issue that presumably can be verified with the court or D.A. (and
also with your custsomer/client?) in question.
Anyway, solve then, if you want, act on the solution to this (hardly
difficult to solve) riddle: What probably are some helpful uses of
Google or Yahoo or Bing, etc., and of your telephone?
Robert Bonomi
Wally <w_c...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>I have been an independent contractor for many, many years now. I've
>incorporated my one man business to make it more legitimate for
>employers.
>I recently received a Grand Jury summons in the mail and am wondering
>how I might proceed in providing an excuse to not appear. Not because
>I don't want to do my civic duty but instead because it would really
>be an economic hardship for me.
'economic hardship', per se, is usually -not- an acceptable reason for
not performing one's civic duty.
>
>I have one and only one client so 100% of my income comes from working
>daily at this client.
_Can_ they "get along without you" for the period jury duty would involve?
If it would *not* be a significant inconvenience for them to do so, it would
be advisable to place your civic duty ahead of your financial situation.
> Is it feasible to send the court clerk ahead of
>time proof of my employment and/or wages, in addition to comprehensive
>corporate financial statements and the previous corporate year's
>taxes? The jury summons states that 'no excuses will be considered on
>the date scheduled to report'.
Taking last things first, that statement on the summons means that you have
to make your objection _before_ the reporting date.
next-to-last, you _don't_ have to submit all that 'gory detail' -- the
court is -not- likely to look at it in any detail. However, *IF* your
business, or that of your client, is likely to suffer serious disruption
because you are absent, you may be considered an 'essential employee' of
the business -- a waiver from service is frequently granted on this basis.
*IF* that is the case, then a statement from _your_ employer (an officr of
the corporation) that you are an eployee wose presense is 'essential' to
the day-to-day operation of the firm should be sufficient.
Lastly, be advised that, in many jurisdictions, if you seek to be excused
_this_ time, and it IS granted, you are -very- likely to be called for the
=next= round of jury service.
Mike Jacobs
<contractor got summoned for jury duty; service would be a hardship>
> Is it feasible to send the court clerk ahead of
> time proof of my employment and/or wages, in addition to comprehensive
> corporate financial statements and the previous corporate year's
> taxes?
I dunno. You don't even say what state you are in, so it's hard to
tell what the procedures are - each state has its own system, and
often within each state the system is completely different in
different counties (or in federal court). So YMMV.
My first suggestion would be to pick up the telephone and CALL THE
CLERK AND ASK what kind of info they would need, to prove you are
unable to serve due to economic hardship, and when they need it by.
Typically, the court summons FAR MORE people to sit on a jury
selection panel, than will actually sit on the final jury. The
prospective jurors get questioned on that first day about potentially
relevant facts that might indicate biases, hardship, etcetera, in a
process called "voir dire," and then the lawyers get to select (from
among that large group) the jurors who would sit on the actual jury.
At a grand jury, I believe it is only the prosecutor who participates
(the defense isn't even allowed to be there), but he will still only
select jurors who appear able to serve for the entire length of time,
and who are open-minded about the issues they will be asked to decide.
The clerk may still want you to come in on at least the first day you
were summoned to appear, and then, if they buy your story about
economic hardship during your voir dire questioning, you would most
likely be excused from further jury service after appearing that one
day (in other words, you would not get picked to sit on the grand
jury).
The jury summons states that 'no excuses will be considered on
> the date scheduled to report'.
Thata says to me, don't come in LATE with an excuse - you need to show
up ON the day summoned (or before, maybe) with your excuse. But it
gives me no idea whether the clerk would even accept your
documentation or know what to do with it if you provided it ahead of
time. CALL THEM first of course, and find out, but my guess is you
will be told to just show up on Day One and bring with you whatever
documentation you want to bring that would show your economic
hardship. Frankly, I DO NOT think they want to see your tax returns
- your testimony about being a solo independent contractor is probably
enough, but once again, YOU NEED TO ASK in advance, then do whatever
they tell you.
> Thoughts are appreciated.
> Thanks,
You're welcome
--
This posting is for discussion purposes, not professional advice.
Anything you post on this Newsgroup is public information.
I am not your lawyer, and you are not my client in any specific legal
matter.
For confidential professional advice, consult your own lawyer in a
private communication.
Mike Jacobs
LAW OFFICE OF W. MICHAEL JACOBS
10440 Little Patuxent Pkwy #300
Columbia, MD 21044
(tel) 410-740-5685 (fax) 410-740-4300
Seth
>incorporated my one man business to make it more legitimate for
>employers.
>I recently received a Grand Jury summons in the mail and am wondering
>how I might proceed in providing an excuse to not appear.
The rules differ from place to place.
In some places, you can't get out of serving, though postponements
might not be hard to get.
In others, hardship exemptions are available.
Seth
Timothy
> incorporated my one man business to make it more legitimate for
> employers.
> I recently received a Grand Jury summons in the mail and am wondering
> how I might proceed in providing an excuse to not appear. Not because
> I don't want to do my civic duty but instead because it would really
> be an economic hardship for me.
>
It depends on the law in your state. And bear in mind that just about
everyone called for jury duty has the same basic issue you do, i.e.,
that they normally woulkd be working a regular job during the hours
when juries meet.
BTW, if you have only one client, you may be asking for trouble if you
put that on the record while trying to get out of jury duty. You may
find that you do not qualify for independent contractor status. The
fact that your one and only client is paying your corporation may not
be enough to make you a non-employee.
Seth
Robert Bonomi <bon...@host122.r-bonomi.com> wrote:
>'economic hardship', per se, is usually -not- an acceptable reason for
>not performing one's civic duty.
30 years ago, in New York City, it _was_ sufficient cause to get an
exemption from jury duty. (You'd get called back the next year or so,
and had to provide an income tax return showing self-employment.)
The rules have since changed; they also don't require 2 weeks
(theoretical) minimum, but "3 days/one trial" and the last time I
served, after the first day they decided the summer was slow enough
that they didn't want us back (they'd have a new crop the next day).
>Lastly, be advised that, in many jurisdictions, if you seek to be
>excused _this_ time, and it IS granted, you are -very- likely to be
>called for the =next= round of jury service.
Last time I was called, postponements were trivial to get the first
time: just ask, and provide a date within 6 months to serve. Later
postponements were much harder to get. Exemptions basically stopped
existing.
Seth
Barry Gold
>>I recently received a Grand Jury summons in the mail and am wondering
>>how I might proceed in providing an excuse to not appear. Not because
>>I don't want to do my civic duty but instead because it would really
>>be an economic hardship for me.
Robert Bonomi <bon...@host122.r-bonomi.com> wrote:
>'economic hardship', per se, is usually -not- an acceptable reason for
>not performing one's civic duty.
Note that OP is talking about a _Grand Jury_ summons, not the normal
summons for "jury duty" (as a possible petit juror). Courts have,
indeed, become quite hard-nosed about excuses from normal jury duty --
partly because they have had trouble getting enough jurors, and partly
because of a perception that juries really should represent a
cross-seciton of the whole population -- not just those who are
retired or whose employers will pay them for jury duty.
But in most places, service on a grand jury is for most of a year.
This is a _big_ disruption in most people's lives. So AFAIK the
courts have been pretty liberal in granting excuses for economic
hardship, and as a result grand juries usually _are_ made up of the
retired, chronically unemployed, stay-at-home moms whose children
are at least teen-aged, etc.
But yes, OP needs to read the summons carefully, and call up and ask
to be excused based on his economic situation.
>>
>>I have one and only one client so 100% of my income comes from working
>>daily at this client.
>
>_Can_ they "get along without you" for the period jury duty would involve?
>If it would *not* be a significant inconvenience for them to do so, it would
>be advisable to place your civic duty ahead of your financial situation.
>
>> Is it feasible to send the court clerk ahead of
>>time proof of my employment and/or wages, in addition to comprehensive
>>corporate financial statements and the previous corporate year's
>>taxes? The jury summons states that 'no excuses will be considered on
>>the date scheduled to report'.
>
>Taking last things first, that statement on the summons means that you have
>to make your objection _before_ the reporting date.
>
>next-to-last, you _don't_ have to submit all that 'gory detail' -- the
>court is -not- likely to look at it in any detail. However, *IF* your
>business, or that of your client, is likely to suffer serious disruption
>because you are absent, you may be considered an 'essential employee' of
>the business -- a waiver from service is frequently granted on this basis.
>*IF* that is the case, then a statement from _your_ employer (an officr of
>the corporation) that you are an eployee wose presense is 'essential' to
>the day-to-day operation of the firm should be sufficient.
>
>Lastly, be advised that, in many jurisdictions, if you seek to be excused
>_this_ time, and it IS granted, you are -very- likely to be called for the
>=next= round of jury service.
--
Barry Gold, webmaster for:
Conchord: http://www.conchord.org
Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society: http://www.lasfsinc.org
My blog: http://goldslaw.livejournal.com/
Jay-T
news:eea8664a-6ad6-44af...@o15g2000vbb.googlegroups.com...
> .....
> I recently received a Grand Jury summons in the mail and am wondering
> how I might proceed in providing an excuse to not appear. Not because
> I don't want to do my civic duty but instead because it would really
I am in New Jersey and a co-worker was called to serve on a county grand
jury last year. In his case, those who weren't excused from serving were
required to serve one day a week for something like 12 weeks. The first
day, they received training and orientation. Then each week thereafter on
that grand jury's service day they would be presented with a series of cases
and had to decided whether or not to hand up an indictment.
So, if your state is similar, it may just be a one day a week duty which may
not seriously interfere with you contracted employment.
Steve Bartman
>So, if your state is similar, it may just be a one day a week duty which may
>not seriously interfere with you contracted employment.
I don't believe the OP named his state, but it's important.
My state commonly only uses state grand juries to indict for
first-degree murder. (Usually murder is charged under a criminal
complaint as second-degree to allow proceedings to satisfy habeas
corpus rules, then sent to the GJ and re-charged if an indictment is
handed down.) The GJs are impaneled at the county level (about 16-25
members per), normally meet one day per week, and normally serve for
four months. But, since they usually only consider murder cases, this
is not too much of a time burden.
However, I've lived in states in the South where all, or almost, all,
felonies are charged through GJ indictment.
And, of course, if the OP is speaking of a federal grand jury summons
(I don't have the original post), that can be very time-consuming for
a long period of time.
Steve