Jury Service Frequently Asked Questions
FAQs
If you have lost or misplaced your summons, call or email the Jury Services office.
Contact the Jury Services office at your local courthouse either by email, phone, or in person to reschedule your jury duty to a new date that you'll be able to appear.
If you are selected to appear, the recording or website will tell you what time to report. This may be in the morning or in the afternoon, depending on the number of jurors needed that day.
Names are randomly drawn from the list of registered voters, the Franchise Tax Board list of taxpayers and the Department of Motor Vehicles list of licensed drivers and identification cardholders.
You may take care of this for them. Under the “Disqualification” part, mark that they are not a resident of Mendocino County. Write that they are a student, the name of the school, and the city and state where the school is located. Sign your name and write “parent” after it, then return the form to our office.
Please use the Excuse part of the summons, write “Deceased” and return the form to our office.
The summons needs to be returned indicating that the person does not live at the address.
Please write “Active Military” and the branch they serve in on the summons, and then return the form to our office.
For persons over the age of 75, simply provide proof of age. For persons under the age of 75, we need a letter from your doctor telling us how long to excuse you from jury service. If the note from your doctor does not state “Permanently”, you will be excused for the remainder of the calendar year. Please note that even if you are permanently excused, you could still receive a summons sometime in the future if you are still registered to vote or have documents with DMV.
Unfortunately your employer is not required by state or federal law to pay you for jury service. However, the law states that an employer cannot terminate your employment for attending jury service.
There is no excusal or disqualification from jury duty because you are self-employed. However, your service can be postponed to a time that is more convenient for you. Please see the Postponements page for instructions on how to do this.
No jury service fees are paid for the first day of service. Beginning the second day, jurors are paid $15.00 per day plus 34 cents per mile each way from home to court for each day of service. You may be reimbursed up to $12.00 per day for taking public transportation to jury duty.
You may obtain a work certification online, by phone or by email. See the Work Certification page on this website.