Jury Trials

No one ever wants to file a lawsuit. People injured by the negligence of others often feel they have no other option but to file a lawsuit. This is because insurance companies often play hardball and deny responsibility on behalf of their insured (the at-fault party) or they refuse to offer a fair amount for settlement, by making a low-ball offer and hoping that the injured person is desperate enough to accept it. 

Once a lawsuit is filed, the at-fault party’s insurance company steps in and hires the at-fault party an insurance defense lawyer. This costs the at-fault party nothing. The insurance company pays all the defense attorney’s fees. After the case is filed, it quickly moves into the discovery phase, where the parties exchange written discovery to try and gather information from each other. There are three kinds of written discovery: 1) interrogatories – which are written questions that must be answered by the party and certified to be true and accurate; 2) requests for production of documents – which are written requests for specific categories of documents like medical records, bills, training records, etc.; and 3) requests for admission – which are written statements that one party would like the other party to admit are true. After the written discovery phase, the case moves into what are called “depositions.”

Mediation in North Carolina is required by court order in all Superior Court cases. The parties are not required to settle at mediation, but they are required to show up and participate in good faith. The mediation is facilitated by someone who is specially trained to help people resolve disputes. Mediators are usually retired judges or attorneys who specialize in mediation. The parties must attend the mediation in person, as well as an insurance representative from the at-fault party’s insurance company. If for whatever reason the parties do not settle at mediation, then the next step is trial. 

The first step at trial is for the attorney to select the jury. This is the only time during the entire trial when the attorneys can have a conversation with jurors. Jurors can ask questions of the attorney during jury selection. One question that jurors often ask is how does the injured person’s lawyer get paid? The answer is that we join with our client in the case and only get paid an attorney’s fee if we are successful in getting a money recovery for our client. We typically get one-third of the total recovery. If we do not win a case at trial, we do not get paid a penny. We often sink tens of thousands of dollars of the firm’s money into our client’s cases for things like expert witness fees or deposition costs. If we do not make a recovery for our client, we do not get paid for those expenses either.

The court room clerk will randomly select jurors to come out of the panel and take a seat in the jury box. The attorneys are required to stay seated during jury selection. Twelve jurors are seated in the jury box during the selection process. Attorneys are not supposed to discuss the facts of the case or what they think the evidence will be during jury selection. 

Many attorneys try to figure out which jurors they believe will be the most sympathetic to their client’s position and keep those jurors, and at the same time figure out which jurors will be the least sympathetic and remove those jurors. 

At Davis Law Group, we try to allow jurors to make the decision of whether to sit on the jury or not. Rather than discussing a juror’s favorite book or what bumper sticker they have on their car, we try to discuss the principles at issue in the case. Having a conversation about the principles in the case helps us identify juror biases or prejudices that might make it difficult for a juror to sit on this particular case. The only caveat is that we do not have absolute power to decide who stays and who goes home. The judge and the defense attorney both also have a say. At the end of the conversation, we ask each juror if they would like to be a juror on the case. If the juror wants to sit on the jury, we do our best to make that happen. If a jury wants to go home, we do our best to make that happen. While we do not have the final say on this issue, we do try out best to follow each potential juror’s wish.

After the defense puts on all of its evidence, the attorneys will give closing arguments. These are arguments by the attorneys that are supposed to sum up the case. Juror research shows that by this point in the case, most jurors have already made up their minds about what they think should happen. This is usually the time when each attorney tells the jury what they want them to in terms of their verdict. How much money the jury verdict should include for damages. The word “verdict” means speak the truth. The court usually gives a short instruction to the jury about closing arguments. Judge’s usually point out that closing arguments are not evidence. During closing arguments, many attorneys’ attempt to spur the jury to action – to render a verdict that speaks the truth of the case.

After the attorneys give their closing arguments, the jury will be excused to the jury room for an extended break. This break is necessary because the court needs to have what is called a “charge conference.” This is the time when the parties argue about which specific instructions they believe the court should give to the jury. The jury instructions are literally a written version of the law that governs the case. Once the judge decides what instructions he/she will give the jury, the jury is brought back into the courtroom. The judge then reads the jury instructions to the jury. After the jury instructions are read to the jury, the jury is sent back to the jury deliberation room to decide their verdict.