DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA REFORMS

Good Samaritan Protection: DC Bill 9-42 (1991).  Amends the "Good Samaritan" statute to provide limited immunity to OB-GYNs providing medical services on behalf of free health care clinics.

Jury Service Reform: (1996-1998).  The Council for Court Excellence, a nonprofit organization, established the D.C. Jury Project Planning Committee in April 1996.  In 1998, the Council published its recommendations in “Juries for the Year 2000 and Beyond.”  The District court system has implemented several of these recommendations.  It changed the jury selection process to have every potential juror answer at least one question in open court and to provide attorneys with more information about jurors so that they could make decisions based on biases rather than appearance.  The District also expanded and improved the accuracy of its juror source lists; a change that has saved thousands of dollars in postage for undeliverable summonses. The District’s court system expanded communication with and education of jurors through a new orientation video, handouts, and brochures.  The court system has encouraged judges to adopt various comprehension reforms through judicial training such as allowing jurors to take notes, providing jurors with exhibit notebooks in extended trials, permitting counsel to make interim summations, and providing written jury instructions for the jury’s use in deliberations.  Prior to the D.C. Jury Project, jurors received a $2 transportation fee and $30 per day for every day they are seated on a jury.  Thus, on the first day of trial, jurors received only a negligible transportation fee.  District of Columbia law already required that businesses with over ten employees pay employees their daily wage, minus the court fee, for up to five days of service.  However, the Council recognized that the self-employed, unemployed, contract workers, and those who work for small employers receive no compensation for the first day of service.  The Council, noting that the federal courts pay $40 per day for the first thirty days of jury service and $50 thereafter, recommended that the District raise the daily fee to at least cover the minimum cost of transportation.  The Council also recommended that jurors receive a lunch stipend on the first day. In 1999, the Council had limited success when the District increased juror travel pay from $2 to $4 per day.  The District has not otherwise increased juror fees or provided a lunch stipend.