It was supposed to be a simple damages trial involving a UPS driver seeking $1.8 million for injuries after a beer truck hit her while she was delivering a package. But when the lawyers began voir dire, members of the jury pool began to protest. “We pay too much,” one of them yelled. “There are too many lawsuits,” proclaimed another. Things devolved from there, according to lawyers for both sides, as additional prospective jurors joined in the catcalls. “One lady actually said: ‘You mean you want me to sit here two weeks, and at the end of the two weeks I’m supposed to reward her for me sitting here not getting paid?’ ” said Jim Heiting, the plaintiffs’ lawyer in the case.
Finally, Heiting, of Riverside, Calif.-based Heiting & Irwin, and Anheuser-Busch Cos. Inc. attorney James Reiss of Reiss & Johnson in Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., agreed to dismiss the entire panel. “I’ve never heard people make comments from the audience as if it’s a talk show,” Reiss said at the time, according to a transcript.
