Today marks the two-week anniversary of the conclusion of my Jury Duty experience. On July 28th, I took the M9 bus from my Stuyvesant Town building to the depths of Manhattan's Financial District. I wasn't particularly excited to be locked in a dimly lit room full of strangers for seven-ish hours, but I was more than enthralled to get away from the bustling life of camp counseling.
After two or three hours of iPod shuffling and solitary Solitaire-playing, I was chosen to move into ----- THE NEXT ROOM. Twenty of us were packed into a room small enough to be a a decent-sized closet where we waited impatiently for something to happen. Three men waltzed in - the first, your typical gray-haired Jew with a distinctive schnoz. The second, a bulky, tan and wise-looking fellow with a voice that would soon bellow. The third, a fidgety and comical Irishman. The trio proceeded to tell us of their "big, big" case involving a personal injury lawsuit. Just wonderful.
After a long, exciting, and boring 8-day trial we, the jury (including the frail, 100-year old possibly narcoleptic lady) and I (yes, I, Daniel Simon Rutkowski anxiously read the verdict aloud in front of the jury, the court officer, the lawyers, the judge, and the three or four audience members), awarded Oscar Cuevas a nice check of a little less than $1.1 million. Not a bad sum for sitting in the back of a fairly chilly courtroom for about a week.
Some of my memorable quotes:
"Your honor, he's not answering my question - I move to strike." - Mr. Wasserman
"Now, Mr. Pessalano, are you being compensated for appearing in court today? And how much are you be compensated? Now uh, have you appeared in a court with a jury such as this one before? Can you approximate for me and the members of the jury, around how many times you have appeared in a courtroom such as this?" - Mr. Wasserman
"You can use a wrench, right? You can hammer a nail, right? You can drive a car, right?!? So, why can't you work?!?!?!" - Mr. O'Connor
"This is Oscar Cuevas's life. This is his life." - Mr. Silverstein
"Objection, your honor. Is he going to calm down?" - Mr. Silverstein
"Mr. O' Connor, please...just, take it down a few notches. - Judge Shulman
"Alright now, members of the jury. Thank you for your patience and attention. I'm going to charge you now, then you will go into deliberation." - Judge Shulman
It's a good thing the case ended on August 17th because I was on a plane to Vienna on the 18th. Naturally, I didn't have much time to tell any American pals of mine this drawn-out, tedious, but overall wonderful happening.
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