On Feb. 9, the California Court of Appeal published People v. Cisneros, 2015 DJDAR 1603, which is a good reminder to all trial lawyers — criminal and civil — that they must have a reason to exercise a peremptory challenge to strike a juror; simply stating a preference for the next juror in line without any other reason is not enough.

Peremptory challenges cannot be used to strike prospective jurors on the basis of group bias — that is, bias against members of an identifiable group distinguished on racial, religious, ethnic, or similar grounds. See People v. Wheeler, 22 Cal. 3d 258, 276-77) (1978). This prohibition has been extended to include gender and sexual orientation, but not age or income. See Di Donato v. Santini, 232 Cal. App. 3d 721 (1991); People v. Garcia, 77 Cal. App. 4th 1269 (2000); People v. McCoy, 40 Cal. App. 4th 778 (1995); People v. Burgener, 29 Cal. 4th 833 (2003). Although these cases are usually criminal matters, the principles and the Batson/Wheeler rule are applicable in civil cases as well. Edmonson v. Leesville Concrete Co., 500 U.S. 614 (1991); Holley v. J & S Sweeping Co., 143 Cal. App. 3d 588 (1983).

Originally published in the Daily Journal on February 13, 2015.