Rule 2.510 – Juror Personal History Questionnaire

May 13, 2021 | Civil Procedure, Michigan

(A) Form. The state court administrator shall adopt a juror personal history questionnaire.

(B) Completion of Questionnaire.

(1) The court clerk or the jury board, as directed by the chief judge, shall supply each juror drawn for jury service with a questionnaire in the form adopted pursuant to subrule (A). The court clerk or the jury board shall direct the juror to complete the questionnaire before the juror is called for service.

(2) Refusal to answer the questions on the questionnaire, or answering the questionnaire falsely, is contempt of court.

(C) Return of the Questionnaire.

(1) On completion, the questionnaire shall be returned to the court clerk or the jury board, as designated under subrule (B)(1). The only persons allowed to examine the questionnaire are:

(a) the judges of the court;

(b) the court clerk and deputy clerks;

(c) parties to actions in which the juror is called to serve and their attorneys; and

(d) persons authorized access by court rule or by court order.

(2) The attorneys must be given a reasonable opportunity to examine the questionnaires before being called on to challenge for cause.

(a) The state court administrator shall develop model procedures for providing attorneys and parties reasonable access to juror questionnaires.

(b) Each court shall select and implement one of these procedures by local administrative order adopted pursuant to MCR 8.112(B). If the state court administrator determines that, given the circumstances existing in an individual court, the procedure selected does not provide reasonable access, the state court administrator may direct the court to implement one of the other model procedures.

(c) If the procedure selected allows attorneys or parties to receive copies of juror questionnaires, an attorney or party may not release them to any person who would not be entitled to examine them under subrule (C)(1).

(3) The questionnaires must be maintained 3 years from the time they are returned. They may be created and maintained in any medium authorized by court rules pursuant to MCR 1.109.

(D) Summoning Jurors for Court Attendance. The court clerk, the court administrator, the sheriff, or the jury board, as designated by the chief judge, shall summon jurors for court attendance at the time and in the manner directed by the chief judge. For a juror’s first required court appearance, service must be by written notice addressed to the juror at the juror’s residence as shown by the records of the clerk or jury board. The notice may be by ordinary mail or by personal service. For later service, notice may be in the manner directed by the court. The person giving notice to jurors shall keep a record of the notice and make a return if directed by the court. The return is presumptive evidence of the fact of service.

(E) Special Provision Pursuant to MCL 600.1324. If a city located in more than one county is entirely within a single district of the district court, jurors shall be selected for court attendance at that district from a list that includes the names and addresses of jurors from the entire city, regardless of the county where the juror resides or the county where the cause of action arose.

Mich. R. Civil. Proc. 2.510