anyone here done jury duty in Ontario?

[momandseandodisney]

Reason I ask is I was contacted Tuesday night, to show up the next morning (Wed) to get set up for jury selection. I was never contacted by phone or mail at any other time other then filling out the jury forms when they first came to my house! It is weird really.

I am the single 24 year old mom of an 8 year old, I have no car (deathly affird of drving since my last accident) and no child care , and I live almost 1 hour away from the court, with no public transport access.

And to top it off of course (why I am here) I have a $10,000 vacation planned to begin Sept 29th to WDW - I surely cannot just take the hit on that one!


AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH - sugesstions, advise, and any other thoughts would be great!

 

[phabric]

I have received 4 notices for jury duty in the past 4 years. I do home child care daycare through an agency. Each time I have written them a letter, with the agency's letter explaining that I am self employed and I don't get paid if I don't have the children. Each time someone calls and tells I don't need to come but I would be on standby. They don't pay you or parking or any kind of transportation. I don't understand why they keep coming back to me when there are people that would love to do it.

Call and tell them that you are going on vacation and have no transportation.

 

[amw]

I have received 4 notices for jury duty in the past 4 years. I do home child care daycare through an agency. Each time I have written them a letter, with the agency's letter explaining that I am self employed and I don't get paid if I don't have the children. Each time someone calls and tells I don't need to come but I would be on standby. They don't pay you or parking or any kind of transportation. I don't understand why they keep coming back to me when there are people that would love to do it.

Call and tell them that you are going on vacation and have no transportation.

I was called for jury duty when I was 8 months pregnant with my DD. That was medical reason to get out of it that time. The second notice came right after I had given birth to my 2nd DD and I was nursing -- another medical to get out. I got my third notice a year after and had to go. I was a stay-at-home mom with my husband working out of the country. I had to get a babysitter and drive to Newmarket. They do pay for mileage if you live beyond 20 kms from the courthouse. I was told that once you are picked, you must attend at some point... "standby" just means they'll call you back every year thereafter. You're not permanently excused.

They really don't care about excuses. They don't care if you're on your own and you don't have childcare or you don't have a car. They'll tell you to find someone to watch your child, and take a taxi at your expense. If you have vacation at the exact time of the call, you would have to provide proof of your bookings to them and then they would put you on "standby."

Really though, these "calls" are for picking a jury and not the actual duty. Your paperwork should tell you that it's either 3 days in a row, or 3 Mondays in a row, etc. Once you are there and they are picking a jury, they'll let you know how long the trial is for and when it'll take place. At that point, you can raise objections and the judge usually decides to dismiss. (The first people who get dismissed are those who don't understand English or who don't hear very well -- I wonder about those as the majority left the building!) Once you've been through this process, you get removed from the standby list. It's a huge pain, but otherwise theyll bother you every year.

Definitely call and confirm everything. It seems funny that you didn't get the letter in writing because it would have explained the whole process, what excuses are acceptable or not, and what times you needed to show up. I'm in York region so it may be different for my area

 

[hcortesis]

I served on a Jury last fall.

They will want you to show up at the courtroom for selection. Although I didn't qualify, they pay mileage for anything over about 15km of travel.

There are many justafiable reasons that a judge will excuse you. You just need to honestly plead your story. I heard every story from "I can't hear properly", "I have my own business to run and can't get away", to "I don't have any day care for my children". The only one that didn't fly with the judge was "I have a cold".

I my case, I was also leaving for Disney about four days after the case was to start. I actually got picked and the Judge said not to worry, the case should only take a couple of days, which it did, and I was on my way.

One other option you might have is to contact the local Sheriff or someone similar and ask them to remove your name even before the jury selection starts.

 

[momandseandodisney]

thanks for the advice - I called, and they said it was about an emergency panel - she said they do not have enough of people in the pool of jurors right now.

I said as long as you contact me after Oct 12th I will have no problem, she said I will put you on a standby list for a later date - she said she would have to take it up with someone before she did though

 

[momandseandodisney]

TRAVEL out of the country should be a good enough " excuse" right?
Not an excuse it is the TRUTH

 

[Donald - my hero]

Reason I ask is I was contacted Tuesday night, to show up the next morning (Wed) to get set up for jury selection. I was never contacted by phone or mail at any other time other then filling out the jury forms when they first came to my house! It is weird really.

I am the single 24 year old mom of an 8 year old, I have no car (deathly affird of drving since my last accident) and no child care , and I live almost 1 hour away from the court, with no public transport access.

And to top it off of course (why I am here) I have a $10,000 vacation planned to begin Sept 29th to WDW - I surely cannot just take the hit on that one!


AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH - sugesstions, advise, and any other thoughts would be great!

I would like to think that you are under some kind of medical care for your panic attacks re:driving. If so, get a note from your doc and have it also state that you would not be suitable due to panic attacks. I was excused when nursing 2nd baby and then the next time I was called panic attacks had begun to set in ... was told I would NEVER be called again. Guess they don't want a blubbering idiot in jury box.

 

[Jo-Anne]

I was in a jury pool in Toronto and my number got called twice. I had business travel the following week and told the judge that and was excused. I didn't have to prove that even though I brought my itinerary with me to show. I believe personal travel would also get you out of jury duty that time, but as others have said, be prepared to get called back!