Senate Bill 2498

AN ACT TO INCREASE PARTICIPATION ON PETIT JURIES; TO DECLARE STATE POLICY; TO PROVIDE THAT INDIVIDUALS SCHEDULED TO APPEAR FOR JURY SERVICE HAVE THE RIGHT TO POSTPONE THE DATE OF THEIR INITIAL APPEARANCE FOR JURY SERVICE ONE TIME ONLY; TO PROVIDE THAT AN INDIVIDUAL MAY APPLY TO BE EXCUSED FROM JURY SERVICE INSTEAD OF SEEKING A POSTPONEMENT; TO PROVIDE FOR JOB PRESERVATION, BENEFITS PROTECTION AND WAGE PROTECTION FOR JURORS; TO REQUIRE THE MISSISSIPPI COURT TO ESTABLISH A LENGTHY TRIAL FUND TO BE USED FOR FULL WAGE REPLACEMENT OR WAGE SUPPLEMENT TO JURORS WHO SERVE ON TRIALS WHICH LAST 20 DAYS OR LONGER; TO REQUIRE EACH TRIAL COURT TO COLLECT FROM EACH ATTORNEY WHO ENTERS AN APPEARANCE IN A CIVIL CASE A FEE TO BE PAID INTO THE LENGTHY TRIAL FUND; TO PROVIDE EXEMPTIONS FROM PAYMENT OF SUCH FEE; TO REPEAL SECTIONS 13-5-23, 13-5-25, 19-3-37 AND 41-17-7, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, WHICH PROVIDE EXEMPTIONS FROM JURY SERVICE; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:

SECTION 1. Full participation of petit juries of all citizens. It is the policy of this state that all qualified citizens have an obligation to serve on petit juries when summoned by the courts of this state, unless excused.

SECTION 2. Postponements of petit jury participation. (1) Individuals scheduled to appear for jury service have the right to postpone the date of their initial appearance for jury service one (1) time only. When requested, postponements shall be granted, provided that:

(a) The juror has not previously been granted a postponement;

(b) The prospective juror appears in person or contacts the circuit clerk or chancery court, as the case may be, by telephone, electronic mail or in writing to request a postponement; and

(c) Prior to the grant of a postponement with the concurrence of the circuit clerk or chancery court, as the case may be, the prospective juror fixes a date certain on which he or she will appear for jury service that is not more than six (6) months after the date on which the prospective juror originally was called to serve and on which date the court will be in session.

(2) A subsequent request to postpone jury service may be approved by a judicial officer only in the event of an extreme emergency, such as a death in the family, sudden grave illness, a natural disaster or a national emergency in which the prospective juror is personally involved, that could not have been anticipated at the time the initial postponement was granted. Prior to the grant of a second postponement, the prospective juror must fix a date certain on which the individual will appear for jury service within six (6) months of the postponement on a date when the court will be in session.

(3) An individual who fails to appear in person on the date scheduled for jury service and who has failed to obtain a postponement in compliance with the provisions for requesting a postponement, or who fails to appear on the date set pursuant to subsection (1)(c) or (2) of this section, shall have committed a misdemeanor and shall be subject to zero (0) to six (6) months imprisonment or a fine up to Five Thousand Dollars ($5,000.00), or both.

SECTION 3. Excuses from petit jury service. An individual may apply to be excused from jury service for a period of up to twenty-four (24) months, instead of seeking a postponement when either:

(a) The prospective juror has a mental or physical condition that causes him or her to be incapable of performing jury service. The juror, or the juror's personal representative, must provide the court with documentation from a physician licensed to practice medicine verifying that a mental or physical condition renders the person unfit for jury service for a period of not less than the twenty-four-month period for which the excuse is sought.

(b) Jury service would cause undue or extreme physical or financial hardship to the prospective juror or a person under his or her care or supervision:

(i) A judge of the court for which the individual was called to jury service shall make undue or extreme physical or financial hardship determinations. The authority to make these determinations is delegable only to court officials or personnel who are authorized by the laws of this state to function as members of the judiciary.

(ii) A person asking to be excused on a finding of undue or extreme physical or financial hardship must take all actions necessary to have obtained a ruling on that request by no later than the date on which the individual is scheduled to appear for jury duty.

(iii) For purposes of this act, "undue or extreme physical or financial hardship" is limited to circumstances in which an individual would:

1. Be required to abandon a person under his or personal care or supervision due to the impossibility of obtaining an appropriate substitute caregiver during the period of participation in the jury pool or on the jury; or

2. Incur costs that would have a substantial adverse impact on the payment of the individual's necessary daily living expenses or on those for whom he or she provides the principle means of support; or

3. Suffer physical hardship that would result in illness or disease.

(iv) "Undue or extreme physical or financial hardship" does not exist solely based on the fact that a prospective juror will be required to be absent from his or her place of employment.

(v) A person asking a judge to grant an excuse based on "undue or extreme physical or financial hardship" shall be required to provide the judge with documentation, such as, but not limited to, federal and state income tax returns, medical statements from licensed physicians, proof of dependency or guardianship and similar documents, which the judge finds to clearly support the request to be excused. Failure to provide satisfactory documentation shall result in a denial of the request to be excused.

(vi) After twenty-four (24) months, a person excused from jury service shall become eligible once again for qualification as a juror unless the person was excused from service permanently. A person is excused from jury service permanently only when the deciding judge determines that the underlying grounds for being excused are of a permanent nature.

SECTION 4. Rights of petit jurors. (1) Jobs preservation. Any person who is summoned to serve as a juror and who notifies his or her employer of such summons within a reasonable period of time after receipt of a summons and prior to his or her appearance for jury duty may not be removed or otherwise be subject to any adverse employment action as a result of such service.

(2) Benefits protection. An employee may not be required or requested to use annual, vacation or sick leave for time spent responding to a summons for jury duty, time spent participating in the jury selection process or for time spent actually serving on a jury. Nothing in this provision shall be construed to require an employer to provide annual, vacation or sick leave to employees under the provisions of this statute who otherwise are not entitled to such benefits under company policies.

(3) Wage protection. An employer, other than an employer as defined in subsection (6) of this section, shall continue to pay an employee called to serve on jury duty at the same rate paid when the employee is regularly working for the employer for the first ten (10) regularly scheduled working days that the employee serves on jury duty. An employer may deduct the daily fee a court actually pays as compensation to an employee serving as a juror or prospective juror from the employee's daily regular pay, but may not make any deduction for court paid jury service fees that are in excess of the employee's regular wage.

(4) Length of service. Service of prospective jurors shall be for no more than one (1) court day in actual attendance, unless a prospective juror is selected to serve in a trial or is under consideration to serve on a trial and such consideration covers a period of two (2) or more days. Once selected, a juror shall serve on the jury for the duration of the trial unless excused by the presiding judge.

(5) Frequency of service. A juror who has served on a petit jury in this state shall not be summoned to serve again as a petit juror in any court of this state for two (2) years following the last day of such service.

(6) Small business protection. An employer with five (5) or fewer full-time employees, or their equivalent, is exempt from the obligation to pay employee wages to employees serving on jury duty set forth in subsection (3) above. Notwithstanding this, such employers are encouraged voluntarily to comply with the requirements of subsection (3) above. A court shall automatically postpone and reschedule the service of a summoned juror of an employer with five (5) or fewer full-time employees, or their equivalent, if another employee of that employer is summoned to appear during the same period. Such postponement will not effect an individual's right to one (1) automatic postponement under Section 2(2) of this act.

SECTION 5. Lengthy Trial Fund. (1) The Mississippi Supreme Court shall promulgate rules to establish a Lengthy Trial Fund that shall be used to provide full-wage replacement or wage supplement to jurors who serve on a petit juries in civil litigation for which a jury trial has been requested and which lasts twenty (20) days or longer. The court rules shall provide for the following:

(a) The selection and appointment of an administrator for the fund.

(b) Procedures for its administration that provide that monies in the fund shall be used to make as provided in this section to jurors participating on juries in trials that last twenty (20) days or longer and to cover all the costs of administering the fund, including payments of salaries of the administrator and other necessary personnel.

(c) The court rules shall provide for the accounting, auditing and investment of money in the Lengthy Trial Fund in accordance with state law pertaining to similar funds.

(d) The Mississippi Supreme Court shall report on the administration of the Lengthy Trial Fund in its annual report, setting forth the money collected for and disbursed from the fund.

(2) Each trial court in the state shall collect from each attorney who enters an appearance in a civil case, unless otherwise exempted under the provisions of this section, a fee of Ten Dollars ($10.00) per entry of appearance to be paid into the Lengthy Trial Fund. A lawyer will be deemed to have "entered an appearance" at the time the first pleading or other filing on which an individual lawyer's name appears is submitted to the court for filing. All such fees shall be forwarded to the Administrator of the Lengthy Trial Fund for deposit.

(3) The administrator shall use the fees deposited in the Lengthy Trial Fund to pay supplemental or full wage replacement to jurors whose employers' pay less than full regular wages when the period of jury service reaches the twentieth day and thereafter.

(4) The court may pay replacement or supplemental wages of up to Five Hundred Dollars ($500.00) per day per juror.

(5) At the conclusion of a trial, the court may order the losing party to reimburse as part of the chargeable costs the fees the prevailing party paid into the Lengthy Trial Fund.

(6) Any juror who is serving or has served on a jury that qualifies for payment from the Lengthy Trial Fund, provided the service commenced on or after the effective date of this act, may submit a request for payment from the Lengthy Trial Fund on a form that the administrator provides. Payment shall be limited to the difference between the state paid jury fee and the actual amount of wages a juror earns, up to the maximum level payable, minus any amount the juror actually receives from the employer during the same time period. The form shall disclose the juror's regular wages, the amount the employer will pay during the term of jury service starting on the twentieth day and thereafter, the amount of replacement or supplemental wages requested, and any other information the administrator deems necessary for proper payment. The juror also shall be required to submit verification from the employer as to the wage information provided to the administrator, for example, the employee's most recent earnings statement or similar document, prior to initiation of payment from the fund. If an individual is self-employed or receives compensation other than wages, the individual may provide a sworn affidavit attesting to his or her approximate gross weekly income, together with such other information as the administrator may require, in order to verify weekly income.

(7) The following attorneys and causes of action are exempt from payment of the Lengthy Trial Fund fee:

(a) Government attorneys entering appearances in the course of their official duties;

(b) Pro se litigants;

(d) Claims seeking social security disability determinations; individual veterans' compensation or disability determinations; recoupment actions for government backed educational loans or mortgages; child custody and support cases; actions brought in forma pauperis; and any other filings designated by rule that involve minimal use of court resources and that customarily are not afforded the opportunity for a trial by jury.

SECTION 6. Severability. The provisions of this act are severable. If any portion of this act is declared unconstitutional or the application of any part of this act to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the remaining portions of the act and their applicability to any person or circumstance shall remain valid and enforceable.

SECTION 7. Sections 13-5-23 and 13-5-25, Mississippi Code of 1972, which provide for exemptions from jury service as personal privilege, are hereby repealed.

SECTION 8. Section 19-3-37, Mississippi Code of 1972, which provides for the exemption from jury service of county supervisors during term in office, is hereby repealed.

SECTION 9. Section 41-17-7, Mississippi Code of 1972, which provides for the exemption from jury service of state insane hospital personnel, is hereby repealed.

SECTION 10. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2003.