PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE

By RANDALL O. SORRELS Abraham, Watkins, Nichols, Sorrels, Matthews & Friend

Not on Our Watch

Some say Americans are defenders of freedom around the world. However, freedom starts at home and the centerpiece of freedom is democracy. And we, the lawyers of this great nation, are the defenders of democracy. We are the profession which ensures that democracy reigns and prospers on every square inch of our land. Without the efforts of the legal profession, democracy would not have been built; and without the legal profession’s continued vigilance, democracy will crumble.
I believe the United States of America is indeed the most influential and powerful country in the world. Some would say our country’s greatness comes from a superior military force. Others would argue that our preeminence has developed from the American entrepreneurial spirit, our democratic election system, or the unlimited opportunities afforded to all Americans. However, there is little argument that the framework for our country’s success was developed by our Founding Fathers in the years leading up to and including the Constitutional Convention of 1787. During these formative years, the rights which set our country apart from the rest of the world were established.
One pillar of our democracy is the jury system – the right to trial by jury. This is one part of our Constitution, perhaps the most important part, that all lawyers should want to protect. But, as you may have noticed, there are both overt and subtle efforts being exerted to diminish our right to a jury trial in civil cases. In short, the right to trial by jury is under siege. It is, however, not the first time the right to trial by jury has been attacked. How we will respond is really the question.
It is a terrible mistake to forget the lessons of history. Since the Magna Carta in 1215, the right to trial by jury has been recognized as one of the great tools against governmental tyranny and oppression. Non-democratic governments, and those who sought dictatorships, autocracy or despotism, have also sought to eliminate the right to trial by jury. Although much of the development of the modern day jury system occurred through the criminal justice system, the right to a trial by jury in both civil and criminal cases serves as a cornerstone for our democracy. Thomas Jefferson stated, “I consider trial by jury the only anchor ever yet imagined by man, by which a government can be held to the principles of its Constitution.” History teaches us that the right to trial by jury is the best system to insure the most legitimate form of democracy.
But there are some in this country who believe the jury system does not work. Some believe that our fellow citizens lack the ability or capacity to listen to the evidence, judge the facts and follow the law to decide the case. These people do not have faith in the average lay person’s abilities to comprehend or assimilate a complex set of facts and issues and then render a true verdict. I think these people are wrong! Others seek to protect or obtain an advantage for their own special interests. These special interest groups are wrong! And there are even certain judges, who in the name of “justice,” far too often substitute their conclusions in place of those reached by the juries who originally heard the evidence and decided the case. These judges are wrong! More and more, the rights, responsibilities and voices of our jurors are being compromised. It is the legal profession that has the obligation to safeguard these hallowed rights.
Back to history for a moment. Before the American Revolution, the British developed a special court system de-signed to deny the American Colonists their right to a trial by jury. It was the British judges, brought in from England, who were given the authority to hear and decide the cases that developed in the New World. The Colonists were being oppressed. Obviously, the British Crown was the special interest of the 18th Century doing the oppressing. The denial of the right to trial by jury was wrong then, and it is wrong today.
Do those who attack the core of this Constitutional citadel forget that many of our framers sacrificed so much to insure we have this powerful right? Do those people want to return to a system that entrusts absolute, unchecked power over the life and liberty of our citizens to one judge (arbitrator) or to a group of judges (a commission) or, better yet, to the legislature? Do those people want to disregard the months, years, decades and centuries of deliberative thought, study and development of the jury system? It really is not our burden or obligation to let history repeat itself. In fact, it is our duty and responsibility to prevent history – this type of history – from repeating itself.
While I am not an alarmist, I do believe that we have been slow to react (if we have reacted at all) to the erosion of the right to have disinterested citizens hear evidence, deliberate as a group (free from special interest influence or outside intimidation) and render a decision in accordance with the law. For example, the legislature has created the Texas Residential Construction Commission to review home defect cases. This now imposes an unnecessary hurdle which must be overcome in order to have ordinary jurors review and pass judgment on the facts of a dispute involving home construction. The legislature has also determined that jurors are mentally unequipped to determine the entire amount of damages a victim of medical malpractice suffers. Ironically, and revealingly, these interests do not complain that jurors could sentence a criminal defendant to death in a capital murder case. And certain appellate courts in our state and country have increasingly substituted their determinations of what the facts ought to have been for those findings actually made by their fellow Americans who sat in the jury box.
Is this a case of sour grapes by a lawyer who has both represented health care professionals and who has sued health care professionals? No. This is a clarion call from someone who believes that we have a responsibility to learn from history – not turn our backs on history. Thomas Jefferson also stated, “Inconveniences that arise from the exercise of rights are usually short lived, trivial, and reparable; whereas the loss of rights is permanent, afflicting and irreparable.” So will we, as trustees of the justice system, allow the foundation of the justice system to be dismantled piece-by-piece as we sit idly by, or are we going to take a stand to stop any further encroachment into one of our strongholds of democracy? I say now is the time to act to reverse the erosion of our right to trial by jury.
It is time each of us rededicate ourselves to the Constitution of this State and of the United States. In our oath to become lawyers, we agreed to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of this State and of the United States. This fact has not been lost by this lawyer, as well as many other lawyers in our city, state and country. Indeed, many groups are taking affirmative steps to educate and alert the public about the importance of our jury system and right to trial by jury. The American Board of Trial Advocates (a non-partisan trial group comprised of plaintiffs’ lawyers and defense lawyers), the American Bar Association, the Texas Young Lawyers Association, and the Houston Bar Association are undertaking major initiatives to inform the public about the importance of our jury system. Individually, we all can help educate the public by talking to our friends, family, and neighbors about the importance and the need for an independent fact finding body in trials – the jury. We cannot be silent any longer.
I ask you to join me, to join the Houston Bar Association and to join the other organized efforts in the endeavor to reacquaint our society with the fundamental importance of the jury system. Let it not be said that under our watch we stood on the sidelines as spectators and watched as our jury system was weakened beyond the point of no repair. Let it be said, instead, that during this era, the lawyers of Houston stood up for democracy, stood up for the jury system and stood up for the people of Texas.

< BACK TO TOP >