Jury Duty Excuse Letter for Small Business Owner

Jury Duty Excuse Letters

Letters Kate

A Jury duty excuse letter is a letter written by an individual who has been summoned to the court for jury duty and is unable to attend it. It is addressed to the court or the jury administration, and in this letter, the reason behind or excuse for not attending the jury duty is stated.

Jury duty entails summoning an individual to the court to serve as a juror and provide his/her opinion about the guilty person, whose case is in a trial in the court. For instance, it can be an employer, who has been summoned to give his opinion about his employee’s honesty or dishonesty. However, a juror can be a random individual as well. For example, if the guilty has impacted citizens’ rights in some way, a random citizen can be sought for his opinion.

Different federal and state guidelines allow you to excuse jury duty if you have a valid reason. An individual might not be able to perform the jury duty due to various reasons, such as:

  • Non-availability on that particular date of jury duty.
  • Personal and family commitments.
  • Sickness or illness.
  • Educational commitments, e.g. in the case of a student.
  • Professional commitments, meetings, etc.
  • Negative effects on the personal financial position, if jury duty is performed.
  • Non-presence in the country or city.

However, the jury or the court needs to be properly informed about the absence and the reason behind the absence. If an individual has been summoned for jury duty, one cannot ignore it for no reason, as it involves legalities. One of the ways of formally informing the court is writing a jury duty excuse letter. This letter should be written keeping in view the following considerations:

  • It should be formal and comprehensive.
  • It should follow federal and state rules.
  • The reason for not attending jury duty should be properly and clearly stated.
  • The excuse should not be baseless, lame, or untrue. People often find loopholes in the rules or use exemption rules to excuse jury duties. However, to avoid perjury and punishment, the excuse should not be a lie.

The details included in such letters vary as per the case and the required jury duty. However, the general information included in such letters is:

  • Date.
  • Details of the addressee.
  • Details of the juror.
  • State non-availability and its reason.
  • Request for a reschedule, if applicable.
  • Request for excusing the absence.
  • Apologize.
  • Salutations and signature.

When this letter is received by the concerned party, it will be aware that the juror will not be present to give his/her opinion. In such a case,

  • Either the opinion of the juror is sought in written form, or  
  • The trial dates are rescheduled (if the juror’s opinion is significant), or
  • Another juror is sought for his/her opinion.

The jury duty excuse letter is an important tool of information for the rest of the jury members, as this would help them in making required arrangements beforehand, and the trial day and time would not get wasted.

Jury Duty Excuse Letter Samples

Excuse Letter for vacation

I am writing to be excused from jury duty on the 15th of December 20XX. I am leaving for a vacation in the Middle East with my family on 10th December. I will be abroad for 2 weeks and, therefore, request you to exempt me from my jury duty.

I have already paid for my vacation expenses including the flight tickets and hotel reservations. As a result, it will be very difficult for me to reschedule the trip since it will cause a considerable financial loss to me. I will appreciate you for showing consideration for my situation.

Excuse for the primary caregiver

I am honored to be selected for jury duty by the State of USA. However, regretfully, I will not be able to show up for the duty due to my family responsibilities. I am a single parent and the primary caregiver for three children. I can’t go out of town for the required jury duty since there is no one else to look after my kids.

Considering my situation, I request to be exempted from my duty. I shall be extremely grateful for your kindness.

For self-employed

I beg to state that I will not be able to perform my jury duty on (date). I am a self-employed individual and earn on a day-to-day basis to provide for my family. Staying away from work during duty will cause me to face a financial burden.

I request your consideration to excuse me from jury duty.

Jury Duty Excuse from doctor

This is concerning the summons for jury duty received by my patient, Jane Doe on 12th December 20XX. Jane has a high-risk pregnancy with Placenta Previa. She is, therefore, on complete bed rest and should be exempted from her jury duty.

Please find enclosed her medical reports for verification. You may contact me with any queries.

For college student

Thank you for selecting me for jury duty. Although it is an honor, I regret to state that I will not be able to appear for the duty owing to my college mid-term exams. These exams coincide with the date of the said duty.

Kindly excuse me for the above-stated reasons. I shall be grateful to you.

For a small business owner

I received a summons for jury duty on the 1st of December. I am a small business owner and cannot afford to be absent from work during duty. It will cause me to lose clients and suffer financial loss. Therefore, I request to be excused from jury duty.

Kindly call me at (phone number) for any concerns. I shall be grateful to you for providing me with the requested exemption.

Jury Duty Excuse Letter for Small Business Owner

File: Word (.docx) 2007+ and iPad
Size 22 KB

Download