Texas Man Tries to Bill $100/hr for Jury Duty

[satori]

I did a little digging on google and the only add'l information I could find was that the guy's 51. From what the articles say, it looks like he went about the process the wrong way. The following quote caught my eye:

"I am also sensitive to the needs of my family and the people around me, which depend upon me for their livelihood."

Who knows. Maybe he's helping out the rest of his family (parents/grandkids) or friends in need, etc. Maybe the guys a social d0rk and doesn't know how to deal with these things in a good way. All I'm saying is there just isn't >enough< information from these articles to make a fair assesment on what's right and wrong.

And I don't think you're being fair about a couple things:

An operation for a family member? If he's uninsured, that's his problem, sorry. That's ANOTHER thing you're supposed to consider.

Um... family includes parents, sisters, brothers, etc... They typically aren't covered under your insurance plan, but if one of them needed some money, would you say "not my problem?"

And $10k should be more than plenty to feed the kids and pay the mortgage.

Isn't that being overly general? Maybe $10K seems like a lot of money to you, but none of us knows the situation the guy's in. Maybe he got burned in the stock market and needs the money. Maybe he had an Enron pension-fund. I don't know the guys job history, but if we're to believe all the doom-sayers in the tech industry, a 51-year-old freelance consultant is gonna have a hard time finding a job.

Finally, if his contract was for just this month, then why is the court obligated in any way to support him for anything longer than the period of time it causes him to miss? The fact that he doesn't have a contract for next month is HIS problem as a freelancer.

Maybe it wasn't his choice to become a consultant. Maybe that's all that was available in his area. We >don't< know this information... or if you've got more details on this, send me a link.

Though I do agree with you that the guy could've dealt with this issue in a better way.

 

[Jzero]

An operation for a family member? If he's uninsured, that's his problem, sorry. That's ANOTHER thing you're supposed to consider.

Um... family includes parents, sisters, brothers, etc... They typically aren't covered under your insurance plan, but if one of them needed some money, would you say "not my problem?"

If my brother or one of his children or whoever needed some sort of medical procedure and they didn't have insurance of their own, while I would likely give up my own organs and cash out my own retirement for them, in the event that I was flat-broke, I would not attempt to extort that money from the justice system. There's no way you can spin this one to make this guy look like an angel. There's a lot better ways to try to raise $17000+.

Isn't that being overly general? Maybe $10K seems like a lot of money to you, but none of us knows the situation the guy's in. Maybe he got burned in the stock market and needs the money. Maybe he had an Enron pension-fund. I don't know the guys job history, but if we're to believe all the doom-sayers in the tech industry, a 51-year-old freelance consultant is gonna have a hard time finding a job.

Let's say he's broke.
Let's say he's got a mortgage payment and 2 car payments.
Let's say he's got 4 kids.
Wow that sure sounds like my grandfather when he died. You can bet your ass they survived on a lot less than $10k in a month, or even the deflated 1963 equivalent of $10k.
Yeah, he might have to cut down on his cushy lifestyle, or starve himself so his kids can eat. I don't care what his situation is. I can't think of a single one where you couldn't "get by" on $10000.

Maybe it wasn't his choice to become a consultant. Maybe that's all that was available in his area. We >don't< know this information... or if you've got more details on this, send me a link.

Boohoo. God forbid he have to take on a second or third job like so many other lower-to-middle-class Americans, and God forbid that job be something as menial as working at Wal-Mart or being the garbage man.
That's still no excuse to attempt to extort $17000 from the justice system.

i guess I really don't need to know too much about this guy. There's only one fact, and that stands for itself, IMHO. Actions speak louder than words. He DEMANDED $17k from the court system based on the off-chance that he MIGHT have to give up a month of work. Whatever his reasoning, however valid, doesn't excuse his actions.

 

[rahvin]

The little arguement is kinda moot. Jury Duty is a civic DUTY, it's not a volunteer thing. It's part of living in America, if you can't handle serving on a Jury go live somewhere where they don't have Juries. Frankly I'd rather have Juries and risk having to serve on one.

 

[Eli]

If they sent me a jury duty notice, I would send it back to them with the word "GUILTY" written across it.. lol

Fortunately, I'm not registered to vote. 🙂

 

[CanOWorms]

Not working for 7 weeks can put someone in a HUGE financial crunch. Maybe some people won't understand because they only eat Ramen noodles and only buy videogames 🙂

 

[StattlichPassat]

LOL!! That's like, trying to get a girl to pay you to get it on with her for a night.

 

[Cyberian]

My employer pays full wages for jury duty, so it's all good.

Viper GTS

Mine used do that too, and the bookkeeping was such a pain that they didn't even want the $15 a day jury duty pay returned.

Last case I was on, we sent a carjacker away for a while.
Man, did I enjoy that case!!