Every juror in nursing home case failed to reveal past litigation; judge ponders the remedy
A judge in St. Petersburg, Fla., is considering a new trial request after all six jurors in a civil case failed to reveal their past involvement with the court system.
The jurors found no liability in the death of 84-year-old Marjorie Anderson, an assisted living resident who fell to her death while trying to navigate the stairs with her walker, the Tampa Bay Times reported last month. Now Judge Anthony Rondolino of Pinellas County is considering whether to grant a new trial because the jurors failed to disclose 16 past cases, the Tampa Bay Times reports.
The newspaper lists the jurors’ cases, discovered after the verdict: three bankruptcies, two foreclosures, a tenant eviction, a contract dispute, a declaratory judgment, an appeal, a child support action, a paternity suit and five domestic violence cases.
One juror told the Tampa Bay Times he didn’t mention a 1996 bankruptcy because he didn’t think it amounted to litigation. “We did not go in front of a judge or anything like that,” he said. Another juror did not think her uncontested foreclosure in 2001 met the definition. “That isn’t a lawsuit. I didn’t go to court,” she said.
