Lengthy Trial Fund - Wage replacement or supplementation. A. Jurors shall be paid the following fees out of the local court fund: 1. For each day's attendance before any court of record, Fifty Dollars ($50.00); and 2. For mileage going to and returning from jury service each day, pursuant to the provisions of the State Travel Reimbursement Act. B. The Court Fund Board of the district court may contract for or provide reimbursement for parking for district court jurors to be paid from the Court Fund. Parking so provided to jurors shall be in lieu of any reimbursement to jurors for parking fees. C. The provisions of this section shall not apply to any person who is summoned for jury duty and who is excused from serving pursuant to the provisions of subsection A of Section 28 of Title 38 of the Oklahoma Statutes, beginning on the day the person is excused from service. D. The Supreme Court shall promulgate rules to establish a Lengthy Trial Fund that shall be used to provide full or partial wage replacement or wage supplementation to jurors who serve as petit jurors for more than ten (10) days. 1. The court rules shall provide for the selection and appointment of an Administrator for the fund; procedures for the administration of the fund, including payments of salaries of the Administrator and other necessary personnel; procedures for the accounting, auditing and investment of money in the Lengthy Trial Fund; and a report by the Supreme Court on the administration of the Lengthy Trial Fund included in its annual report on the judicial branch, setting forth the money collected for and disbursed from the fund. 2. The clerk of the court shall collect from each attorney who files a civil case, unless otherwise exempted under the provisions of this section, a fee of Ten Dollars ($10.00) per case to be paid into the Lengthy Trial Fund. A lawyer will be deemed to have filed a case at the time the first pleading or other filing on which an individual lawyer's name appears is submitted to the court for filing and opens a new case. All such fees shall be forwarded to the Administrator of the Lengthy Trial Fund for deposit. 3. The Administrator shall use the fees deposited in the Lengthy Trial Fund to pay full or partial wage replacement or supplementation to jurors whose employers pay less than full regular wages when the period of jury service lasts more than ten (10) days. 4. The court may pay replacement or supplemental wages of up to Two Hundred Dollars ($200.00) per day per juror beginning on the eleventh day of jury service. In addition, for any jurors who qualify for payment by serving on a jury for more than ten (10) days, the court may, upon finding that such service posed a significant financial hardship to a juror, even in light of payments made with respect to jury service after the tenth day, award replacement or supplemental wages of up to Fifty Dollars ($50.00) per day from the fourth to the tenth day of jury service. 5. Any juror who is serving or has served on a jury that qualifies for payment from the Lengthy Trial Fund, provided the service commenced on or after January 1, 2005, may submit a request for payment from the Lengthy Trial Fund on a form provided by the Administrator. Payment shall be limited to the difference between the state-paid jury fee and the actual amount of wages a juror earns, up to the maximum level payable, minus any amount the juror actually receives from the employer during the same time period. The form shall disclose the juror's regular wages, the amount the employer will pay during the term of jury service starting on the eleventh day and thereafter, the amount of replacement or supplemental wages requested, and any other information the Administrator deems necessary for proper payment. The juror shall be required to submit verification from the employer as to the wage information provided to the Administrator, including but not limited to the employee's most recent earnings statement or similar document, prior to initiation of payment from the fund. If an individual is self-employed or receives compensation other than wages, the individual may provide a sworn affidavit attesting to his or her approximate gross weekly income, together with such other information as the Administrator may require, in order to verify weekly income. 6. The following attorneys and causes of action are exempt from payment of the Lengthy Trial Fund fee: a. government attorneys entering appearances in the course of their official duties, b. pro se litigants, c. cases in small claims court or the state equivalent thereof, or d. claims seeking Social Security disability determinations, individual veterans' compensation or disability determinations, recoupment actions for government backed educational loans or mortgages, child custody and support cases, actions brought in forma pauperis, and any other filings designated by rule that involve minimal use of court resources and that customarily are not afforded the opportunity for a trial by jury. 7. Until June 30, 2021, the Office of Management and Enterprise Services shall, at the request of the Administrative Director of the Courts, transfer any monies from the Lengthy Trial Fund to the Supreme Court Administrative Revolving Fund or the Interagency Reimbursement Fund as necessary to perform the duties imposed upon the Supreme Court, Court of Civil Appeals and district courts by law. R.L. 1910, § 3236. Amended by Laws 1923, c. 6, p. 5, § 1, emerg. eff. Feb. 13, 1923; Laws 1947, p. 248, § 1, emerg. eff. May 16, 1947; Laws 1963, c. 79, § 1, emerg. eff. May 21, 1963; Laws 1967, c. 122, § 9, emerg. eff. April 27, 1967; Laws 1968, c. 199, § 1, eff. Jan. 13, 1969; Laws 1977, c. 189, § 1, eff. Oct. 1, 1977; Laws 1981, c. 217, § 1, eff. Oct. 1, 1981; Laws 1996, c. 339, § 7, eff. Nov. 1, 1996; Laws 1997, c. 400, § 10, emerg. eff. July 1, 1997; Laws 2004, c. 525, § 2, eff. Jan. 1, 2005; Laws 2015, c. 343, § 5, emerg. eff. June 1, 2015; Laws 2016, c. 249, § 5, emerg. eff. May 5, 2016; Laws 2017, c. 12, § 5, emerg. eff. April 6, 2017; Laws 2020, c. 4, § 1, emerg. eff. March 18, 2020; Laws 2023, 1st Ex. Sess., c. 16, § 1, eff. Nov. 1, 2023.
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