Fosamax Jury Stalled

The first Fosamax trial has been completed in Federal Court in Manhattan, but the Jurors are having difficulty coming to a unanimous verdict. The trial began in mid August and proof was concluded September 2, 2009. By September 8, the eight person jury had deliberated 9 hours before telling the Judge they were not able to come to a unanimous opinion. The Judge instructed them to continue to deliberate, but no verdict has been reached as yet.  The requirement of a unanimous jury is antequated and needs to be done away with in civil cases.  The fact that 1 or 2 people cannot agree with the majority should not cause the retrial of a case - and it does. It may in this case.  People are entitled to have their own opinions, but in their role as jurors they are asked and expected to consider the opinions of others and to not arbitrarily hold onto an opinion. When someone like that gets on a jury, they can make life miserable for those jurors trying to do the right thing. Let's hope the jurors in this case are able to listen to one another, fairly evaluate the evidence, and return a just verdict.  For more information about this jury's deliberation, click here.