Jury Trials in a Post-covid World
| Publication year | 2021 |
| Author | By Matthew Clendenin |
By Matthew Clendenin
Matt Clendenin, is a trial lawyer at The Clendenin Firm APC. After working at several large law firms, Clendenin went to law school at Santa Clara University in the Bay Area. In law school, Clendenin won Santa Clara's internal moot court competition and was awarded "Best Oral Advocate" of the competition. During law school, Clendenin also studied oral argument with barristers at the Honorable Society of Gray's Inn of Court in London, England as well as a pupilage at Magdalen College, Oxford. Outside of the office, Clendenin's passions include spending time with his wife and two daughters, playing darts, bicycling, board games, and good whisky.
The judge welcomes our newly empaneled jury into the courtroom: "You may all remove your masks... if you want to." Juror No. 9, wearing a mask with the words "VACCINATE" across his face does not move a muscle. Juror No. 3, rips off their mask as if the mask were choking her. What do you do with your mask at counsel table?
Trials certainly feel different these days. Is the jury pool any different? Will things return to normal? Will the court continue to have abysmal juror response rates? What about COVID-related gaps in treatment? Tele-health doctor appointments?
Having recently obtained a verdict in a solo trial in April during one of the first in-person jury trials back in the "regular" courtrooms in San Diego County Superior Court. My case was a tough liability outdoor slip and fall in the rain at a movie theater (read: sympathetic defendant). The result: defense verdict.
Debriefing the loss has forced me to focus on key changes in trials since COVID. Jurors are now coming in more divisive than ever, particularly on governmental response to COVID and mask wearing. Trial lawyers now face even more push back from judges facing logistical challenges are struggling to reopen safely. Even getting a "real" trial date has become more of a challenge with limited juror response rates and backlogged dockets. Lastly, COVID presents new case-specific challenges such as gaps in treatment and tele-health appointments for plaintiffs.
Many lawyers have given me kind words of condolences. I truly believe that we learn more from our losses, and not our victories. I hope this article will share a few of my lessons learned for jury trials in a post-COVID world.
We all know that our country is more polarized than ever. Including relevant COVID questions during voir...
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