I don’t know how this applies to different courts, but I do know I was advised to do the following here in San Diegoand I was excused. I believe I was called for a federal court here in SD versus city. However, this did not work in past places I have lived.
If your income is derived from your ability to work – IE: sales, consulting, project based, you can indicate that your income is negatively affected if you are unable to work.
I don’t recall whether I asked for an exemption, but I know for certain that I did not ask for a postponement. I think I had to include the contact person and number at my work for the court to verify.
If you are for instance a consultant and make 100K a year, but have a $3k mortgage payment, plus another $2k in car payment and monthly household expenses, I would say its a financial hardship because you can’t pay your bills. Should you just stop making your mortgage payment because you couldn’t bill your client for 2 weeks out of the month because of jury duty?
