You have spent the past four weeks away from work serving as a juror in a case deciding whether a pharmaceutical company should be held liable for the heart attack of a woman who took its painkiller, Oxxy-1. The lengthy case has taken a toll on your professional career, and you have many unanswered questions as jury deliberations begin (Reed, Pagattaro, Cahoy, Shedd, & Magid, 2015).
- Where does your duty lie in serving on a jury?
- Are you protected against adverse employment action by your firm for missing work to serve on a jury?
- How do you reconcile the woman's prior heart palpitations from years ago with her recent attack? Was her heart already compromised before she began taking the painkiller Oxxy-1?
- Why didn't the pharmaceutical company withdraw the painkiller from the market at the first sign of a problem?
- How does our court system protect the rights of society and business?
- Is the case on which you are serving as a juror being adjudicated in a state court or in a federal court? How do you determine which cases fall under the jurisdiction of the federal courts, and which cases should be heard by state courts?