Jury Duty Finished!

We finished deliberation at 3 p.m. yesterday.

There is this woman who has worked for 27 years at the
zoo. During a rainy day in February she espied a stray dog
rooting at garbage cans. She followed it until she lost track of it.
She went home and called the Animal Control. She got some
dog food and went out to look for the dog. She found it a few
blocks from her house in the front yard of another home, going
through the garbage can there. She went down to her knees and
befriended the dog. A large woman who can not speak
English ran out of the house and proceeded to grab the dog by the
collar. The good samaritan happened to have her fingers around
the collar by the front of the neck. Because of this her middle
finger was broken and is now deformed.
It got to be a little complicated.
The woman had ongoing problems with her hand in the past.
The dog cowered when the large woman who happened to be the
housecleaner came out of the house. The owner of the house
brought in a dog behavior expert to explain this cowering.
The housecleaner said she said in English to the good samaritan
thank you for finding Foxy and that her employer is the owner
of Foxy. She said on the stand that she can't speak English.
There was a certified translator. She said she didn't drag
the woman but on her deposition she said she did.
Both parties agreed the 14,000 medical bills should be paid.
The plaintiff's lawyer said his client is expected to live another
23 years, accdg to statistics, and deserves 120,000 for pain
and suffering. The defendant's lawyer said people get hurt and
go on with their lives. She deserves no more than 2,000.
We awarded the good samaritan 35,000.
She was as negligent as the housecleaner in not trying to
prevent the situation from escalating.
I almost lost it in the morning, it seemed like everybody
except me and this guy next to me were unclear about
the negligence part, and would have dragged the
deliberation forever. But I'm glad I simmered down and
got to understand how the other members were bewildered
by all the testimony and evidence.
It was a good experience for me.
I don't know if I mentioned this juror that I found quite
attractive. She was until she opened her mouth. Talk about
Flinty. I googled her when I got home, turned out she's an activist
who works for Amnesty International.
The woman next to me is a wedding gown designer who
is flying to Tokyo today for a fashion show of her designs.
She hopes to be the new Vera Wang.
I have the rest of the week off. My hands are happy.