The Nation: One Angry Man; What’s the Verdict When the Mayor Is Also Jury Foreman?
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WHEN Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani swore to serve as jury foreman in a Manhattan personal injury case last week, he set off down a path many citizens but few famous folk have trod. Barring a settlement, Mr. Giuliani will spend Tuesday listening to a final day of tedious, at times tortuous testimony in an intensely personal personal injury case — a man’s claim that water in a shower scalded his genitals so badly he has been unable to have sex with his wife. The six-person jury will then, under the guidance of their hard-charging foreman, decide whether Oliver Johnson’s request for $7 million in punitive damages from his landlord is justified. If the jurors rule that it is, they must put a dollar figure on the pain (and deprivation) Mr. Johnson and his wife, Larene, have suffered. That Mr. Giuliani was called is far from noteworthy. Since loopholes allowing doctors, lawyers and a dozen other professions to avoid jury duty were eliminated in New York in 1996, an increasing number of politicians, judges and celebrities have been called. The trend is occurring elsewhere in the country. More : query.nytimes.com |