A comment in the "Should we have let the bears eat her" thread reminded me that I had served on two juries, one in Illinois and the other in Washington. It was a minor hardship, about a week in each case, but I came away with renewed faith in democracy and the ability of ordinary people to do justice. Plus, they were both very interesting cases. I'll bet there are other people on this forum who have served on a jury and have some stories to tell. I'll start with one.

It seemed to never stop snowing in Chicago during the winter of 1979-80 and a young electrician with a very Italian-sounding name, Frank A., Jr., bought an SUV. The next year, there was no snow, the price of gas was high and Frank was traveling 60 miles each way to work. He wanted to sell the SUV but no one was interested. Then the SUV was stolen and Frank reported the theft to his insurance company. The company was about to pay, when another young man goes to the local police station and says, "My friend told me that he paid someone $300 to steal his SUV. This isn't the first time that he cheated his insurance company and I can't take it anymore." So, the insurance company refused to pay, as was its right when there is evidence of fraud. Frank sued the insurance company to force it to pay for his stolen SUV and the insurance company sued Frank to recover money from a previous claim that it had paid.

To be continued...