Atlanta Injury Attorney Blog
After trying a Federal jury trial last week and a Fulton County State Court case this week, I thought I would touch on the subject of jury composition and voir dire.
So much is made in the injury lawyer world of the venue; that is the county or area that the potential jurors will come from. Most lawyers will tell you that DeKalb County is the preferred plaintiff’s venue along with Clayton. That is somewhat based on the socioeconomic majorities that show up on those juries; mostly lower income groups. Fulton County also has a general reputation as fairly plaintiff friendly, but let’s look closer at the 30 person pool we had to chose from on Tuesday in State Court.
| Fulton Jury Pool | Juror | Race | Town | 4yr Degree |
|---|
1 AAF Atlanta Y
2 WM Atlanta Y
3 ASN Alpharetta Y
4 WF Atlanta Y
5 AAM College Park N
6 AAF Atlanta N
7 WF Roswell Y
8 other East Point Y
9 WM Atlanta Y
10 IND.M Roswell N
11 WF Alpharetta Y
12 AAM Riverdale N
13 AAM College Park Y
14 AAM Atlanta PHD
15 WM Alpharetta Y
16 ASN.F Alpharetta Y
17 WM Atlanta JD
18 AAM College Park N
19 WF Atlanta Y
20 Ind.M Alpharetta Y
21 WM Alpharetta Y
22 AAM Atlanta JD
23 WF Roswell Y
24 WM Atlanta N
25 WF East Point Y
26 WF Roswell N
27 WM Atlanta N
28 Ind.F. Alpharetta Y
29 WF Atlanta Y
30 WF Milton Y
Federal Jury Pool Northern District of Georgia
1. WM Fulton
2. WM Fulton
3. BF Fulton
4. WM Gwinnett
5. BF Dekalb
6. WM Cobb
7. BF Newton
8. WM Cobb
9. BF Fulton
10. WF Cherokee
11. WM Cobb
12. WM Dekalb
13. WM Suwannee
14. WF Forsyth
15. WM Paulding
16. HM Gwinnett
17. WF Henry
18. AM Fulton
19. WF Rockdale
20. BM Cobb
21. BF Fulton
22. BF Dekalb
23. BF Fulton
24. WF Snellville
25. WM Douglass
Keep in mind that in Federal Court you are only getting 3 strikes and in the State Court, you get 6 strikes. We were able to get a few jurors struck for cause in each case as they admitted that they could not award money damages for injury cases. The reality is that amongst many middle class Georgians, they will be very judgmental on cases that either lack a damages punch (the State Court case only had 2.5 months of medical care) or lack a strong liability claim (the Federal case was brought by prisoners in a van that rear ended a tractor trailer) Both of these are tough cases for either damages problems or liability problems. The jury composition though is illustrative for other lawyers going to trial these days.