No more free lunch for Lake Co. juries

CROWN POINT, Ind. — Jurors in some Lake County cases won't get free lunches while serving because budget cuts have forced judges to halt a practice of using public money to feed them.

The changes affect Lake Superior Civil Division Courts but not jurors serving in the better-funded Lake Circuit and Lake Criminal Courts.

Chief Superior Court Judge John Pera said he is frustrated and embarrassed by the move to end lunch payments, a change that is the result of 30 percent spending cuts over the last two years. The civil courts already are at a disadvantage with other courts that receive revenue from tax and user fees that aren't shared, The Times in Munster reported.

"We struggled long and hard over every penny in our budget to see where we can cut and still provide the same level of service the public expects," Pera said.

Pera said he hopes the County Council will approve using fees lawyers pay to the clerk's office for online court transactions to restore lunch privileges for civil juries.

In the meantime, at least two attorneys took pity on jurors recently and decided to pay for their lunch themselves.

Hobart lawyer Kevin Marshall said he and an attorney on the opposing side in an insurance dispute asked Pera for permission to buy jurors pizza and sandwiches during the four days they heard evidence in a trial in Civil Division Judge Gerald Svetanoff's courtroom at the Gary courthouse.

"This is making jurors in civil cases disgruntled," Marshall said of the lunch policy change.

The lawyers each contributed $100, but jurors weren't told who was footing the lunch bill.

Svetanoff said the attorneys volunteered to pick up the tab because it would be more efficient for the trial. There are few restaurants nearby, and bad weather during the trial threatened to complicate the search for lunch.

"If jurors went out to eat, they might not have a parking place when they came back," Svetanoff said.