The Never Ending SoCal Jury Summons

I was recently summoned for jury duty. Again.

This is my 4th year I have received a summons since I registered in the state in 2012. Yup, I am one of the lucky ones. After a 1 year period from the date you are summoned, you can possibly get called again. However, I have never served on an actual jury.

Why my girlfriends haven’t gotten summoned in years and why I have is beyond me. I’ve lived in the state a lot less longer than they have.

“You are a poster child, girlfriend!” my friend joked. Then there was my father, who claimed I was being “targeted.”

But here’s the thing: if you live in SoCal and have registered with the DMW and/or to vote, you are officially in the lottery. Here are some facts I learned about the California Courts system as a whole:

California’s court system is the largest in the nation and serves a population of more than 37 million people, which is about 12% of the total U.S. population.
The total number of trial court system filings in fiscal year 2014-2015 was 6.8 million cases (woah!).
Approximately 7,491,051 Californians were summoned to jury service in fiscal year 2013–14.
Approximately 2,639,365 of Californians who were summoned to jury service completed service in fiscal year 2013–14 (one of them includes me).
Approximately 133,605 Californians were sworn in to serve as jurors in fiscal year 2013–14.

The first year I got a summons was in 2013 for Federal Court in Downtown Los Angeles. I was shocked, because this was the first time I had ever gotten summoned in my life. I still live in Ventura County, so that meant waking up at 5 a.m. so that I could be at the Federal Courthouse at least by 7:45 a.m. I cannot stress enough to those that receive a federal summons that it is not like a county one. Every juror in the room immediately goes into a courtroom, whether it’s in the same building as the jury selection waiting room or across the street. In the end, I was not selected on the civil case. All I can say is had I been selected, it was a pretty high profile case.

In April 2014, I was summoned for Ventura County Superior Court, but because I had just served federal jury duty 5 months prior, I was able to use my “get out of jail free card” and provide the county a copy of my jury duty proof to get out of it. I thought, I won’t be called anymore most likely.

I was wrong. In July 2015, I was summoned in Ventura County again to serve. I ended up going into 2 courtrooms (one criminal case and one civil case) and did not end up being chosen to come back. Again I thought, okay, I must be done for good now, there is no way they’ll call me again.

When I got summoned just this past Friday for a January 2017 jury duty, for the first time, I didn’t react negatively. I have become so used to getting summoned each year that it doesn’t phase me anymore. I am numb to it. All I can do it go in with a positive attitude and hope for the best.

“A lot of people just don’t show up, girlfriend,” my friend told me. “Why don’t you just not respond?”

Back in 2015, the local newspaper, Ventura County Star, reported that a report conducted by Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse found 45.7% of the 215,941 jurors summoned in the county in 2014 simply did not appear or respond, compared with about 30% in Los Angeles and San Diego counties and only 20% for the 14 SoCal counties combined.

Here’s the problem if you don’t respond to a summons: failure to appear for jury service may cause a juror to be found in contempt of court and could result in a fine up to $1,500. So what’s the better situation: showing up for a day or getting fined? It’s expensive enough to live in SoCal, so just save the money and go.