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Facebook Post Results in Removal of Juror

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Mr. and Mrs. Khoury filed a products liability suit against ConAgra for personal injuries Mrs. Khoury suffered. The day prior to voir dire, the trial court and counsel agreed that the attorneys for the parties would investigate the jury panel members’ litigation history on case.net (Missouri’s online court information system) and determine the following morning whether any of the 80 panel members may have failed to answer questions accurately. This was done and the individual jury panel members were questioned about information found on case.net. The parties subsequently exercised their peremptory strikes and strikes for cause and a jury of 12 plus 4 alternates was empaneled.

Prior to opening statements, counsel for ConAgra informed the court that he had found that one of the selected jurors was “a prolific poster for anti-corporation, organic foods” on Facebook. ConAgra moved for a mistrial or, in the alternative, to strike the juror because of the alleged misconduct and claimed that the juror intentionally failed to disclose information that affected his ability to be a fair and impartial juror. The trial court and counsel for the parties then questioned the juror after which, counsel for ConAgra renewed its motion based upon the juror’s intentional nondisclosure. The trial court denied the motion for mistrial, but sustained the motion to strike. The juror was excused and an alternate replaced him. The jury eventually found in favor of Defendant Con-Agra and Plaintiffs appealed for a number of reasons, including a claim of error in striking the juror after the jury had been empaneled.

 The Western District Court of Appeals found that the striking of the juror for possible bias was within the discretion of the trial court and not a reversible error on appeal. The Western District Court took this opportunity to again remind counsel that any research into a juror’s bias should be brought to the trial court’s attention at the earliest possible moment and should not wait until the case has been submitted to the jury. This case serves as another warning from the courts that attorneys representing parties should make every effort to use all available resources to investigate jurors’ background prior to submitting the case to the jury in order to avoid waiving any claim of bias or prejudice on the part of jurors.

 

Elaine Khoury and Alex Khoury v. ConAgra Foods, Inc.

Michael J. Smith

Michael J. Smith

Michael J. Smith is the chair of Lashly & Baer's Litigation practice group and engages in civil litigation with an emphasis on representing health care professionals and insurance companies. Mr. Smith has successfully defended health care providers at trial and, in addition, has represented health care providers in licensure and disciplinary proceedings, credentialing matters and business disputes. He also represents insurers in coverage disputes and policy analysis. Click here to view Bio and Contact Info

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