The Jury is Out: With Civil Jury Trials at a Standstill, Attorneys Look for Ways to Ease the Backlog
Date
11-16-2020
Pages
22-23
Abstract
Jury trials were shut down in March because of the COVID-19 pandemic. There is a large backlog of civil cases waiting for a court date, which are given a lower priority than criminal cases. Lawyers and law firms are looking into alternative ways to address the issue but have not found a good solution. Video trials don’t allow for jurors to look at the faces of those testifying and in person, the masks also make this hard. Furthermore, most of the state’s courtrooms are small and don’t allow for social distancing. Includes sidebar about two recent cases filed by Berman & Simmons which have national implications – a restaurant worker’s suit against Conagra, and the lawsuit brought by Larry Lord, the LEAP Inc. employee who was injured in a gas explosion in 2019.
Recommended Citation
Milliken, Maureen, "The Jury is Out: With Civil Jury Trials at a Standstill, Attorneys Look for Ways to Ease the Backlog" (2020). Maine News Index – MaineBiz. 7900.
https://digitalcommons.portlandlibrary.com/news_mainebiz/7900
Source
Mainebiz