New Jersey Lemon Law Lawyer Blog
In New Jersey Jury selection is very limited. The Judge asks the jurors about 50 questions, ranging form are you a citizen to what do your children do and what are your hobbies? There are certain questions that they have to ask and then the attorneys submit questions that they want the Judge to ask the Jury. Jury selection can last from one to three hours, depending on how long the trial will last. The Judge picks seven jurors, of which one will be an alternate. The lawyers have six challenges to remove jurors, for almost any reason.
In this case the Judge used some new questions and asked the jurors what they thought of the civil justice system and whether it did not permit appropriate claims or allowed too many claims. The jurors were very attentive and gave very specific answers and I think they wanted to serve on the Jury. It was only a 2-3 day trial.
The point to jury selection is to excuse the jurors that will not be favorable to your case, a tough thing to do with a few questions and a quick answer here and there. You are supposing built-in prejudices in people you have never met, a dangerous thing to do. Generally plaintiff’s lawyers remove people in the insurance industry and those who own businesses; removing people who hate lawsuits is the idea.