Jury Duty
I sat on a civil jury trial between a boilermaker in the Navy that had been exposed to asbestos and developed mesothelioma, and a company that made asbestos insulation.<p>Neither side could actually put the man and the company or its insulation in the same room at any point in the past. Lots and lots of companies made this type of insulation. (In an &quot;accidental&quot; outbust from one of the attorneys that we were instructed to ignore, we learned that he was in fact suing most of them.) The Navy kept meticulous records about where he had worked, and both the Navy and the company did the same about work orders and where the insulation had been installed. The best evidence the man had was &quot;I saw their truck in the parking lot once&quot;.<p>This type of civil trial only required a 9&#x2F;12 majority and the other jurors really only saw this as a chance to stick it to the company. &quot;Of course this man should be repaid for the damage done to him!&quot; Any sort of nuance like, &quot;okay sure but should this company be the one to pay it?&quot; was totally lost. He&#x27;s hurt, so somebody should pay up. That was it. That was their justice. The jury instructions like the actual claims to damages were totally ignored.<p>I sure hope I never have a jury deciding my fate.