Tennessee Injury Law Center
I have been summoned to jury duty in civil court. Am I going to be able to ask questions of the witnesses at trial or do I just have to sit there and listen?
Relatively new changes to Tennessee law permit jurors to ask questions under certain circumstances. The judge will instruct you what to do if you want to ask a question.
Do not be offended if the judge refuses to ask the question you want to ask. The law of evidence prohibits a jury from considering some types of information. (For example, you cannot know that the person who is being sued has liability insurance that will pay any money owed. You also are not ordinarily permitted to know about settlement discussions.) In addition, the evidence may be presented at a later time in the trial and judge may want the evidence to be introduced at that time.