Court Plans Crackdown on Jury Dodgers

In response to an explosion in the number of jury duty dodgers, the Los Angeles Superior Court said Wednesday it will fine citizens who ignore jury summonses up to $1,500.

About 40% of potential jurors in Los Angeles County did not respond to summonses last year, almost twice as many as two years ago, said Gloria Gomez, manager of juror services for the Superior Court.

In an effort to reverse the trend, the court will now require citizens who don’t respond to two written jury notices to appear before a judge and explain why they did not. If there is not a good excuse, Gomez said, judges are almost certain to fine a jury dodger the maximum amount.

“There are people out there who just don’t take a jury summons seriously,” Gomez said. “We must do something to those individuals who do not take the order of the court seriously.”

In 1995-96, the Superior Court had a similar but less sweeping program that targeted citizens who repeatedly skipped jury duty. At that time, about 1,700 people were assessed the $1,500 fine.

This time around, the penalty will apply to everyone, not just citizens with a checkered jury-duty past. It’s likely, Gomez said, that many more will be fined.

“I think this is definitely warranted,” Gomez said. “This is a requirement of citizenship, for heaven’s sake.”