What constitutes a 'severe hardship' exemption?

What constitutes a 'severe hardship' exemption?

Iloilo Jones (Executive Director of Fully Informed Jury Association) gives expert video advice on: What are legal ways to get out of jury duty?; Are some professions exempt from jury duty?; How do I apply my exemption? and more...

Sometimes there are people who are called in for jury duty, they get a summons and they actually have such a severe hardship that they cannot go. They may have just broken their leg skiing and they're in a wheelchair. That's definitely a severe hardship. You probably cannot even get in and out of the courtroom to maneuver around. Nobody wants you there anyway because they would have to take care of you and you are going to be grumpy. You may have just been told by your doctor that you have to have dialysis on a regular basis and you can't serve on a jury if you need to be able to go have dialysis. You may have other medical problems that are severe enough that you simply cannot perform as a juror. If you have a question about that, call the Clerk of Courts, sometimes it's the court bailiff, but usually it's the Clerk of Courts, let them know what your circumstances are and they're very understanding about this usually and they will probably just say, let us know when you think you're ready to come back and be put back in the jury pool.