Tiny Jury Checks Are a Big Headache

Deirdre Hanssen was impressed with Los Angeles County’s new one-trial jury system--until she found a check for 30 cents in her mailbox.

That’s how much she earned for driving two miles from her West Hollywood home to the Beverly Hills courthouse.

“I thought, this is insane. It cost more to mail and process,” said Hanssen, an editor at NBC Studios and coauthor of the book, “TV: Sex, Lies & Promos.”

Hanssen is among tens of thousands of jurors throughout California who have received checks worth less than $5 since July 2000, when a new juror payment system took effect.

State law now requires jurors be paid $15 a day, beginning with their second day. It requires, however, that they be paid mileage of 15 cents per mile one way to the courthouse.

Those changes coincided with a statewide push to relieve jurors from duty after one day if they are not selected for a trial. The Los Angeles courts began implementing the one-day idea about the same time the payment system changed.

As a result, many jurors now serve just one day and are entitled to mileage fees only, generating a flood of minuscule checks. Court officials don’t like it but say they must abide by the law.

Sean Holland, a yacht captain, got a check for $1.80 for his 12-mile commute from Bel-Air to the Van Nuys courthouse. “Fifteen cents a mile is inconsequential,” he said. “I think it’s a waste of taxpayer money.”

Marcus Choi, a teacher from North Hills, said the $1.20 he got could have been better spent on coffee and doughnuts for jurors.

“Either they should give me a little more or give me nothing at all,” he said. “I always thought I would get at least $5 a day.”

Court administrators recognize the problem. “When you have a 32-cent check and it costs $1.36 to process it, it doesn’t make a lot of sense,” said Gloria Gomez, who runs the jury system in Los Angeles. “We are following the law.”

A report by Los Angeles County’s auditor-controller concluded that it is not cost-efficient to issue checks for less than $2 and is seeking alternatives, including amending the law. But until then, county courts say they must continue to pay mileage--no matter how little. “The Legislature didn’t want to pay fees for the first day, but the bill did not mention mileage,” Gomez said. “We are, unfortunately, under a legal obligation to pay.”

Ventura County pays mileage for the first day too. “We don’t like it, but that’s what we’re doing,” said Peggy Yost, the court’s program director.

But at least two counties--Orange and San Bernardino--interpret the law differently and don’t pay unless jurors return to the courthouse a second day.

“I don’t think it’s the intent of the Legislature to create an absurd result,” said Alan Slater, chief executive officer of the Orange County Superior Court. “No pay for the first day to me means no mileage.”

San Bernardino County Superior Court has a long-standing policy against paying mileage on the first day, Executive Officer Tressa Kentner said.

Although counties interpret the law differently, June Clark, an attorney with the state Judicial Council’s Office of Governmental Affairs, said, “If you read the statute, it’s pretty black and white.” The law, she said, requires that jurors be paid for the first day.

Still, state court officials are exploring possible alternatives.

Paying a few cents for mileage “is not a good business decision nor is it good public policy,” said William C. Vickrey, executive director of the state Administrative Office of the Courts. “I think the money could be better used improving the condition of jury service.”

In Los Angeles, jurors may waive or donate their fees to improve juror facilities or pay for juror appreciation activities, though some say they were never told of that option.

“I would have been fine with donating the money,” said Deborah E. Brown of Sherman Oaks, who received a check for 30 cents, not enough to cover her 50-cent bus ride to and from the court.

“Too bad they didn’t make a point” of telling jurors about the option, she said. “It seems as though there is an alternative.”

Vickrey said state court officials may ask lawmakers to eliminate mileage payments for the first day, or entirely if juror fees are increased again. Another option is to pay mileage only for significant distances.

“We would like the per diem seen as covering all the incidental costs of jury duty,” including travel expenses to and from the courthouse, Clark said.

The Judicial Council, she said, is studying the fiscal implications of its various proposals.

Meanwhile, Brown said she won’t cash her 30-cent check. She considered mailing it back to the court but didn’t want to waste money on a postage stamp.

In rejecting the payment, she hopes to send a message: “Put an end to the nonsense right now.”