I've been invited as a panelist with a federal public defender and a federal prosecutor to speak to young members of our federal bar on the subject of "demystifying juries." I will speak about my experience trying federal civil cases to juries over the past thirty years.
Less than 1 per cent of the federal civil cases nationwide get tried by a jury. So, why care?
Because you should. Once in a blue moon the deposition that you took not anticipating that it would matter because the case won't get to trial, does get to trial and then it matters. You should take every deposition in every case planning for trial, because that deposition whether it is a 30(b)(6) or a cross is going to be an incredibly valuable tool to convince the jury to side with your client or improve your odds of winning.
What are your odds if you get to the jury? Jurors in P.R. tend to side with the Plaintiff roughly 75 per cent of the time. Why? Jurors seem to side with those parties they can identify with. It can be your client, an individual or a small corporation, a witness for your client, but rarely with a Fortune 500 company. Jurors also watch the news and how they think and react is influenced by the news. For example, this should not be a good time for the defense to try employment discrimination cases, in particular, sexual harassment cases (domestic abuse/sexual harassment are front and center in the news). To understand juries, you have to try to understand their environment and circumstances. When you try a case what's happening in the society around you matters. With the economy like it is in Puerto Rico, money is hard to come by, and juries generally tend to be more conservative in their awards, though they may be more inclined to find liability.
I've been on both the winning and losing sides of juries in civil cases many times and I have ten precepts that I find helpful to demystify juries:
1. Don’t be afraid of juries. Jurors do a great job in finding out what the facts are and what the truth is. Six minds in a civil case work better than one. Jurors work like a great lie detector machine. They are more focused on the facts and doing justice than finding our what the law is. Juries will do their best to apply the law in the instructions as they can remember them, and it helps when the judge gives them a copy after the charge. But to win, you must master the facts of your case.
2. Jurors are paying attention to more than the evidence admitted in the case. They pay attention to you and your client. Do you get to the court on time? Do you treat the court, the witnesses, and opposing counsel with dignity and respect? Are you organized in your presentation of the evidence? Are you prepared? Is your client making gestures while the other side testifies? They are watching everything.
3. Jurors tend to give more weight or remember the first witness and the last. First and last impressions count. Despite being instructed not to discuss the case until deliberations, do you really think they wait that long? Structure your case to be strongest at the beginning and end.
4. Jurors give more weight to eyewitness testimony that is backed up by contemporaneous documents. I've seen it with witnesses on the stand. Jurors pay close attention to both documents prepared before the litigation started and deposition transcripts used for impeachment.
5. Jurors give a lot of weight to expert witnesses that are not hired guns.
6. Don't be afraid to preserve the record when you absolutely have to. If you must object, object when it matters.
7. Don't try to pull a fast one with documents or witnesses. Concede weak points of your case, if you must, in the opening statement. Credibility is a virtue. Don't work to lose it.
8. Jurors dislike and distrust evidence kept from them. So don't object unnecessarily. You lose credibility points if you object just for the sake of objecting or every time you move to approach the bench. Choose your objections wisely.
9. Just be yourself. Don't pretend to be someone you are not when trying a case.
10. Don't sweat it to predict how the jury will come out in the case. Resist answering to your client if you think you are winning the case before deliberations have even begun. Predictions are an exercise in futility and often wrong. Do your best and enjoy the experience.
Ricardo
