Nov 10

final-jur-e headline

Washington State Appeals Court Interprets New General Rule to Enforce Batson

As reported previously in the Jur-E Bulletin, the Washington State Supreme Court in 2018 approved General Rule 37 to improve the enforcement of the Batson doctrine in jury trials.  Among the unique features of GR 37 is a requirement that, in ruling on a Batson challenge, a trial judge “shall evaluate the reasons given to justify the peremptory challenge in light of the totality of circumstances. If the court determines that an objective observer could view race or ethnicity as a factor in the use of the peremptory challenge, then the peremptory challenge shall be denied. The court need not find purposeful discrimination to deny the peremptory challenge.” (Emphasis supplied.) Now, a lengthy opinion in State v. Hale analyzes a series of prior state appellate cases interpreting how a trial judge is to apply GR 37 in ruling on reasons given for exercising a peremptory strike. The Hale court concluded the trial judge misapplied GR 37 in denying the defendant’s peremptory strike, but the error was harmless. The opinion demonstrates peremptories can also be challenges for trial judges.

Jury Gives $1.4 M to Tenant Whose Cat Was Stolen by Landlord

The entertainment outlet TMZ reports a jury levied $1.75 million in damages against Joshua Smith's landlord for stealing Smith's cat.

After 10-month Voir Dire – Jury Finally Seated in Rapper Case

According to ABC News, jury selection was completed last week in a racketeering case against Young Thug and six codefendants. Opening statements are scheduled to begin on the Monday after Thanksgiving Day.

Veteran Defense Lawyer Describes Jury Biases in Product Liability Case

Hildy Sastre of Shook, Hardy & Bacon tells Law.360 (pay wall) she feels like we’re at “an unprecedented moment” when it comes to anti-corporate sentiment among jurors across the country – especially with respect to pharmaceutical and chemical companies.  As for causes, she identifies “the spread of disinformation on the internet, which obviously there's a tremendous amount of. Some of it has just been current events where people feel like they've been touched personally, as I said, particularly by drug companies. It could be the price of drugs that's offensive. But people tend to think that a lot of these companies within this space are dishonest. They think that they're unethical. And they think that they're money hungry at all costs. So that's how you start with about 50% to 80% of your jury pool.”

Monsanto Says Judge's Off-Record Communication with Jury Warrants New Trial

Law.360 also informs us the Roundup herbicide manufacturer this week filed a 108-page motion for a new trial following a $175 million plaintiff verdict in a Philadelphia case captioned Caranci v. Monsanto. The company said it learned of the court’s alleged improper conduct through a conversation with one of the jurors after the trial concluded. The jury reportedly asked the court how it should proceed after reaching a 9-3 vote in the plaintiff’s favor, and a court clerk told jurors they would have to deliberate for at least two more days if they did not reach the requisite 10-2 juror majority. According to Monsanto, one of the Monsanto-favoring jurors ultimately changed their vote later that day to prevent deliberations from continuing into the next week.  The court allegedly did not inform the parties of the jury’s question or the court’s instruction and did not create a record of the exchange. Monsanto contended that the court’s instruction was coercive and split from the standard instruction given to deadlocked juries.