Free Proposed Voir Dire - District Court of Arizona - Arizona

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David C. Larkin #006644 DAVID C. LARKIN, P.C. 4645 South Lakeshore Drive, Suite 6 Tempe, Arizona 85282 Telephone (480) 491-2900 Fax (480) 755-4825 Attorney for Plaintiffs Jeffrey L. Lowry, Esq. Aaron C. Viets, Esq. Rodey, Dickason, Sloan, Akin & Robb, P.A. 201 Third Street NW, Suite 2200 Albuquerque, New Mexico 87102 Telephone (505) 765-5900 Fax (505) 768-7395 Attorneys Pro Hac Vice for Defendant Albertsons UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT DISTRICT OF ARIZONA Lewis Silverman, Cynthia Silverman, Plaintiffs, vs. Albertsons, Inc., a corporation, Defendants. The following is the joint list of proposed voir dire questions to be considered at the Final Pretrial Conference set for Friday, October 14, 2005 at 2:00 p.m. Plaintiff's Proposed Voir Dire Questions: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. How long have you lived in Arizona? Where do you work? What is your job title? What do you do? How long have you been employed there? Are you self-employed? Do you own your own business? Do you otherwise have people working for you? No. CIV-O3-2268-PHX-NVW JOINT PROPOSED VOIR DIRE QUESTIONS

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9. employees? 10. 11. discipline? 12. 13.

Have you, or has any member of your immediate family, ever supervised other

Have you ever prepared a job appraisal or evaluation of another employee? Have you ever had the power to discharge or discipline? To recommend

Have you ever exercised that power? Describe. Have you, or any member of your immediate family, ever terminated or fired

anyone from a job? 14. 15. 16. 17. If so, was the termination ever contested? How? What was the result? Have you ever taken any courses in law or personnel or human resources? Have you ever worked in a human resources department? Have you ever been responsible for setting or enforcing personnel policies as

part of your job? 18. personnel? 19. Have you ever been terminated or fired from a job? If yes: a. b. 20. Describe. Was the firing ever contested? How? What was the result? Have you ever worked in the field of labor relations, industrial relations, or

Have you ever quit your job? If yes, describe the circumstances.

21.

Have you, or has any member of your family, ever worked in the retail grocery

or restaurant business? a. b. In what capacity? For how long?

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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29. outcome? 25. 26. 27. boys? Girls? 28. 24. employment? 23. employment? 22.

c.

If no longer so employed, what was the reason for ending the

Have you or any member of your immediate family ever worked for

Albertsons', Inc. or for Starbucks? a. b. c. d. Which one? In what capacity? When and for how long? If no longer so employed, what was the reason for ending that

How often do you read the newspaper? a. What newspaper(s) do you read?

How often do you watch the news? a. What news programs do you watch?

Are you married? Have you ever been married? Do you have children? If so, how many children do you have? How many

Does any of you believe that you have been discriminated against because of

your religion, national origin, race, sex or gender during any employment you have held? a. b. When? By whom? Did you complain to the EEOC or file a lawsuit? What was the

c.

Do you know of any family members or close friends who believe they

have been discriminated against in this way? d. Did any of them complain to the EEOC or file a lawsuit?

Have you ever been accused of discriminating against an employee? -3-

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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 35. people? 36. 33. 31. 30.

a.

If yes, describe.

Have you ever served on a jury before? a. If so, what type of case?

Has there been any experience in your personal life or in the personal life of

any member of your family that you believe would influence your judgment as a fair and impartial juror? 32. Have you any preconceived ideas about this type of case that would affect your

judgment as a fair and impartial juror? Do you believe that the Holocaust occurred?

Objection: Questions about the Holocaust are inflammatory and prejudicial, implicating images of death camps, unimaginable suffering, and Nazis. Other than inflame jurors with those images, this question merely seeks to find whether jurors believe that there are people who are prejudiced against Jewish people. That question should be asked directly as set forth in question number 35, below. 34. Do any of you have any opinions or beliefs about Jewish people? a. If so, what are those opinions or beliefs?

Do you believe that there are people today who are prejudiced against Jewish

Do you think that a person who is prejudiced against Jewish people might

desire to discharge a Jewish employee who she supervises? Objection: This question is improper conditioning. It is self-evident that anyone who is prejudiced against Jewish people might desire to discharge them from employment. 37. Do you think that an employer's manager who is prejudiced against Jewish

people might exaggerate charges against a Jewish employee or willfully fail to do a proper investigation of allegations against an employee to get rid of him?

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Objection: This question is improper conditioning. It is self-evident that anyone who is prejudiced against Jewish people might desire to discharge them from employment and take steps to make that happen. 38. Do you think that a supervisor who is prejudiced against Jewish people might

punish a Jewish employee more severely than a non-Jewish employee? Objection: This question creates a false issue in this case. There is no evidence, nor has Plaintiff made the assertion, that there were other, similarly situated employees who were treated more favorably. 39. Have you ever brought a lawsuit against someone? a. b. judicial system? 40. Do you know of any fact or reason which would tend to make you biased or Would you please tell us a little bit about the case? Did that experience leave you with any particular feelings about our

prejudiced for or against any of the parties in this case? 41. Have you ever retained a lawyer? a. b. c. Please explain. 42. 43. describe. 44. 45. Do you think our system of justice works well? Why or why not? Do you have any bumper stickers on your vehicle? If yes, what is (are) the message(s) on the bumper sticker(s) 46. Are you, or have you been a member of a labor union? -5Have you ever had any training in law? If yes, please describe. Do you have any close friends or relatives who have training in law? Please Was the experience a good or bad one? Please explain. Do you have any feelings about that experience? Please explain. Do you think that lawyers are more or less truthful than other people?

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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 48. 47. 50. 49. 47.

If yes, which union? Did you serve in any official capacity in the union? Are you, or have you been a member of a business or economic organization,

for example, Rotary Club, National Association of Manufacturers, Cato Institute, Chamber of Commerce? If yes, which business or economic organization? Did you serve in any offical capacity in the organization? 48. Do you think it is appropriate to question prospective jurors as we are doing

here today? Why or why not? Have you seen or read anything in the news media about proposals for

reforming our justice system, for example tort reform? a. b. What have you read or heard? How do you feel about that?

Do you feel the Courts are clogged by frivolous lawsuits? a. If so, do you think it is people who cause these frivolous lawsuits or is

it the lawyer's doing? b. c. Why? What do you think would help the problem?

Defendant's Proposed Voir Dire Questions: 46. Have you ever sued anyone? If yes, what was the nature and the outcome of the suit?

Have you ever been sued? If yes, what was the nature and outcome of the suit?

Do you shop at Albertsons? Have you had good experiences with the company? Have you had bad experiences with the company?

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49.

Do you drink Starbucks coffee? Do you shop at Starbucks stores? Have you had good experiences with Starbucks? Have you had bad experiences with Starbucks?

50.

Do you think employers should have the right to refuse to tolerate any amount of employee theft?

51.

Do you think it is acceptable for a grocery store employee to have in his possession, with no intent to pay for it, a small amount of food that should otherwise be on display for sale?

52.

Do you think it can ever be acceptable to make observations in the workplace about a person's religion?

53.

Have you ever heard negative comments about Jewish people? Did those comments make you uncomfortable? If so, what did you do about it?

54.

How would you value the impact of hearing someone at work make a negative comment about your religion?

55.

Would you believe that a person who is accused of preparing to steal from his employer might lie to avoid the embarrassment of having been caught? Would you believe that the same person might lie for monetary gain?

56.

Have you ever been accused of stealing? Has a close friend or family member ever been accused of stealing?

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57.

Have you ever been fired from a job? Did you feel you were treated unfairly?

58.

Have you ever had to manage employees? Have you had to fire employees for any reason, including theft from the employer?

DAVID C. LARKIN, P.C.

RODEY, DICKASON, SLOAN, AKIN & ROBB, P.A. By: /s/ Jeffrey L. Lowry Jeffrey L. Lowry Aaron C. Viets AND Paul Conant THOMSON CONANT, PLC Attorneys for Defendant Albertsons

By:

/s/ David C. Larkin David C. Larkin Attorney for Plaintiffs

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