Juries Belong in Court, Not on Zoom, Rusty Hardin Contends

The Supreme Court of Texas has been asked to decide whether a virtual trial is a real trial.

The question arrived at the court’s doorstep last week. The opposing parties in a multimillion-dollar personal injury case are fighting over whether a Houston judge abused her discretion by ordering a virtual trial, which was to begin on June 8. The Supreme Court stayed that trial date, but has yet to rule on an underlying petition for writ of mandamus that would order the trial judge, state District Judge Dedra Davis, to hold the trial before an in-person jury,