Potential jurors called in from their couches, dining tables and offices Monday morning to a Texas state court insurance trial that appears to have been the first in the country to use the videoconferencing platform Zoom with jurors during the coronavirus pandemic.
The public got to observe the jury selection process handled by two Texas state court judges and three attorneys as 25 potential jurors were vetted.
But the trial itself happened behind virtually closed doors because it was a summary jury trial that’s part of the mediation process in a hail and wind damage dispute between State Farm Lloyds and policyholder Virtuwave Holdings LLC.
Collin County District Court Senior Judge Keith Dean, who presided over Monday’s trial, reminded jurors that, despite the new platform, they were still in court and couldn’t Google information or use their phones.
The summary jury trial set the stage for a Tuesday mediation between State Farm and information technology company Virtuwave, which claims State Farm breached the parties’ contract and violated state insurance codes by failing to pay the correct amount for hail and wind damage to the company’s property suffered in a March 2017 storm.
