Friday, February 12, 2010

As promised, here’s a quick summary of the public hearing on the retention of Judges Durkin, Howard, and Toor. Thirteen witnesses spoke to 7 of 8 members of the committee; the hearing lasted about one hour. Ten of the thirteen supported the retention of Judge Toor while two of those opposed it. They were litigants (well, at least one was) who questioned her judicial demeanor and both said she had prevented them from presenting evidence. There was no real detail and no questions were asked by committee members.
Those speaking in favor of Judge Toor’s retention were: Ruth Whitney, the Addison court officer; Rob Keiner; Betsy Gregory, a GAL at family court in Chittenden County; Tom Heilman; Thomas Powell, a friend and neighbor; Bill Sorrell, who related the unanimous support of his staff attorneys; Barbara Watts, the Washington Superior Court officer; and finally retired Justice James Morse.
Ruth Whitney, Hal Miller, Chris Killian, and Kathleen Lott, a docket clerk at E court spoke favorably in support of Judge Durkin. Only Justice Morse put in a good word for judge Howard who otherwise sat quietly through the evening without hearing his name mentioned. In short, an uneventful night in the process to retain these judges. Next Wednesday they’ll return, in theory to answer any issues raised last night. I expect another quick evening. I’ll report next week.
The Senate Judiciary Committee has decided to hear testimony on S. 279 next Friday. Here’s the bill in its entirety:
BILL AS INTRODUCED S.279
1 S.279
2 Introduced by Senator Campbell
3 Referred to Committee on
4 Date:
5 Subject: Court procedure; conduct of trial; verdict in civil actions
6 Statement of purpose: This bill proposes that in a civil action, the verdict or
7 finding of a number of jurors equal to at least 80 percent of the jurors serving
8 on a jury shall constitute the verdict or finding of the jury.
9 An act relating to nonunanimous jury verdicts in civil actions
10 It is hereby enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Vermont:
11 Sec. 1. 12 V.S.A. § 1950 is added to read:
12 § 1950. NUMBER OF JURORS REQUIRED FOR A VERDICT IN A CIVIL
13 ACTION
14 In a civil action, the verdict or finding of a number of jurors equal to at least
15 80 percent of the jurors serving on a jury shall constitute the verdict or finding
16 of the jury.
17 Sec. 2. EFFECTIVE DATE
18 This act shall take effect on July 1, 2010.
I am working with the Chair, Senator Sears to get Sam Hoar and Brad Myerson to re-do their presentation in Montreal on the pros and cons of non unanimous civil jury verdicts.