The Superior Court Los Angeles
213-974-5814
You've received the dreaded notice--a summons to report for jury duty. Friends and colleagues share that they've been disregarding the notices for years, and advise you to do the same. But you should know that the Los Angeles Superior Court will now sanction you for not showing up--probably resulting in a fine and jury service.
Because a 1999 court rule established One Trial Jury Service, jurors now summoned for jury duty need only be present at a courthouse for a single day of jury selection. If chosen for a jury, the juror must serve until a decision is reached, usually less than four days. All other jurors are excused at the end of the day and have completed their jury duty obligation for at least 12 months. And don't count on your good excuse to get out of serving: judges rarely grant a request to be excused from jury duty these days. Professionals, stay-at-home caregivers, judges and other once-excused citizens now find themselves in Los Angeles Superior Court’s jury boxes.
Will bigotry get you excused from serving? Probably not, because you'll just get shuffled to another courtroom to serve on another jury.
Residents of Santa Clarita may be called to serve at the Santa Clarita OR the Van Nuys courthouse. Weekly, 250 jurors are called to the Santa Clarita Courthouse and 5,000 to the Van Nuys Courthouse. Once you change the date you are available to serve, you cannot change the location. However, you may postpone up to three times, but the third time is a charm--you must serve that date. So the Court allows you to choose a date to serve that is convenient to you--within three months of your original 'call' date. Just follow the prompts through the '800' number on your Jury Summons.
Courts/Santa Clarita Courthouse
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U.S. District Court
213-894-3644
There are four courthouses in California, the closest to Santa Clarita being in Los Angeles. In most situations you have been summoned to appear at the Federal Court closest to your home.
You will be on call for 30 days, requested to report for eight days if you are called. You must verify your attendance the evening before you are to report.
You may postpone service once; additional postponements are considered by the Chief Judge. The Court does not excuse for prior jury service unless you have served as a grand or trial juror in a United States Federal Court, or been selected and seated as a trial juror or an alternate juror in a state Superior Court trial within the past two years.
Unless you are 70 years of age or older, requests to be excused for medical reasons must be accompanied by a letter from your physician, specifying the condition that prohibts you from serving. And no, lack of transportation is not a valid excuse.
Juror excuses and postponements must be submitted in writing within 10 days of receiving your summons; they will not be considered once you report.
The website above links to a pretty comprehensive list of FAQs.
