Editor’s Note: For your convenience the short article titled Jury Duty Part III is shown below as a lead-in to this dynamite article. Also remember that the new Cleveland County Civil Trial of the Century begins July 30,2018 with the selection of a brand new jury. I expect over 100 Cleveland County citizens have been called for jury duty to be winnowed down to the 12 that will actually decide this case in a four week trial. The actual trial is expected to start a several days later, pending no new lawyer misconduct. The trial is in regard to the alleged Wrongful death of Shelby Businessman Jim Teddy caused by the alleged medical malpractice of a Shelby Doctor and his practice. Millions of Dollars are at stake.
Jury Duty Part III-Trial of Century Stopped and Jury Sent Home!!! Trial Starts all over July 30 with New Jury Selection!! Something Fishy Going on!! Report by Robert A. Williams
Published July 18, 2018 •
As I stated in Jury Duty Part II, last Wednesday afternoon (July 11, 2018) , Myself and several others were dismissed from the jury in the Jim Teddy Wrongful Death-Medical Malpractice lawsuit trial. I was dismissed by a “peremptory challenge” by the Doctor’s Lawyers and the others were dismissed “for cause.” Six jurors had been selected for the trial, six more were to be selected from the waiting jury pool of approximately 100 (the courtroom was packed and people were standing) and the actual trial was to have started Monday Morning, July 16, 2018 with opening arguments from the attorneys. Those of us that had been dismissed from the jury and left standing in the back were taken out of the courtroom by the Bailiff and told we were released from this jury and released from the entire jury pool for two years.
Now that I was a member of the general public again with my Constitutional Rights restored I could have returned to the courtroom and watched the rest of the jury selection, which is a right of the public. Myself and the rest of us “rejects” didn’t care to stand in the back of the courtroom for the rest of the day, so we went home right then and there.
But since I had a personal interest regarding the colonoscopic examination that my family doctor had recommended for me and there were questions in my mind on whether I should go ahead with my original plans to have the examination done by this same group that had been sued for negligence and wrongful death, go someplace else or try for a different form of the examination, I showed up back at the courthouse Monday Morning, July 16, 2018.
But, The Courtroom was empty. What the heck was going on? I wondered.
As I had already decided to research this case beginning back to the filing of the original lawsuit as well as find out what happened to the Teddy wrongful death trial, I go down to the Clerk of Court’s Office where all the records are kept.
I asked the lady behind the big glass window about the Teddy case and she goes talks to someone and comes back saying it had been continued. I asked “Why?” It being very unusual for a trial to be continued after the jury is selected, unless there is a settlement. Just about that time the Courtroom Clerk for the Teddy trial comes through and I ask him why the case was continued and when was it continued to. He says the trial is continued until July 30th and kept on walking.
Well, I wasn’t deterred in finding out what was going on. But, to make a long short, the entire jury pool was “tainted” by lawyer misconduct so the Judge stopped the trial before it actually began. And to let everybody know that the biggest lawsuit in Cleveland County History has only been postponed until July 30th, and, so nobody will waste their time this week and later to witness this trial for themselves and wonder what happened; I will stop this article right here as just a notification that the case has been postponed. I will begin the next article with the details that I found out looking through the court documents.
Folks, This case is dynamite, so stay tuned for “Jury Duty-Part IV–Lawyer Misconduct.”
Jury Duty Part IV–Lawyer misconduct starts right here:
July 16, 2018.
Now, back to the Clerk Of Court’s Office to find out why nobody was in the Courtroom for the Jim Teddy wrongful death-medical malpractice lawsuit trial. Potentially the biggest case in Cleveland County History!!!
As I had already decided to research this case beginning back to the filing of the original lawsuit as well as find out what happened to the actual Jim Teddy wrongful death trial, I go down to the Clerk of Court’s Office where all the records are kept.
I asked the lady behind the big glass window about the Teddy case and she goes to talk to someone and comes back saying it had been “continued.” I asked Why? It being very unusual for a trial to be continued after the jury is selected, unless there is a settlement. Just about that time the Courtroom Clerk for the Teddy trial comes through and I ask him why the case was continued and when it was continued to. He says the trial is continued until July 30th and kept on walking.
I turn around and the first clerk was gone, so I ask another clerk for the file of the Teddy case and he gets it. All thousand plus pages of the case file.
Over a thousand pages of documents does not deter me either. I knew that the original lawsuit, called a “Complaint” would be on the bottom of the file (as it was filed first) and what happened at the end of last week should be on or near the top of the file. All the thousands of pages in the middle did not interest me. Just yet anyway, but that part will come soon enough.
The Complaint was right on the bottom where it was supposed to be. I asked for a copy and it is attached at the end of this article. The records at the top of the case provided probable reasons why the case was stopped, but everything was not there. Another lawyer in the area opined that that document may still be in the process of being drawn up and signed. That made sense.
So folks, I have attached the actual Complaint for the Teddy lawsuit that might end up being the biggest case in Cleveland County History. A multi-million dollar potential award as one of the Doctor’s lawyers had already said-without a smile on his face. This was no joke for him and the Doctor and Insurance Company he represents. Of course the early death of Jim Teddy is no joke for his Teddy’s and friends either
I have also attached a Court Order signed by the Presiding Judge regarding selecting the jury and other such stuff that was signed July 9, 2018. This was the first day of Jury Selection when all of us jurors got sent home at 9:20 AM and told to “come back tomorrow.” At the time this was strange and unusual and a big waste of our time. But, now I know that the rules the lawyers were supposed to be going by in the jury selection were still being argued by the lawyers before the judge ruled and signed the order at around 2:00 PM on July 9, 2018
This particular Court Order that is attached seems to offer direct proof that my conclusions that the Doctor’s Attorneys that challenged me and removed me from the jury were indeed asking “leading questions” that were specifically “ordered” by the judge, just two days before, were not to be asked the jury. Several items seem to apply. I will go through each one.
But, before I do, I have to say that I have been doing court watching duty for years now. Not every day or every week or every year, but when I took the notion and when I knew an interesting case was coming up. Jury trials have always interested me. I have watched jury selections that took about 30 minutes to a couple of hours. This Jim Teddy wrongful death trial with jury selection taking several days was a first for me. Especially with me sitting right there in the Jury Box”. Juror No. 7.