HARRIS COUNTY, Ga. (WRBL) - The first civil case to be tried in front of a jury in the Chattahoochee Valley Judicial Circuit took place for the first time in 13 months. The circuit has been having in-person jury trials since March, but criminal cases take priority over civil cases.
Attorney Steve Hodges explained the unique way he was able to get his client's car-wreck case in front of a jury in Harris County.
Hodges said with the permission of Judge McBride, he was able to put his clients case at the bottom of the Judges criminal docket.
With a stroke of luck, the criminal cases ahead of Hodges's were heard and the civil case was able to be tried last week. This made it the first civil case to go in front of a jury in the judicial circuit since the COVID-19 pandemic shut down in-person jury trials in March of last year.
Hodges said the tactic worked so effectively other attorneys throughout the area are being encouraged to try it.
"The criminal cases always take a priority so sometimes you have to be inventive about how to get a civil case tried," said Hodges. "And Judge McBride was good enough to let me tag this one on and it worked out so well he’s encouraging other lawyers in the circuit to start trying to tag some cases.”
Hodges added that this tactic will only work for certain civil cases like car-wrecks that have less witnesses and expert witnesses, unlike medicine malpractices civil cases which have more moving parts.
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