Before a jury can begin deliberating the facts of a case, it must receive jury instructions from the presiding judge. The judge is in charge of the law of a case, while the jury's job is to find the facts in dispute, explained Hughes. In layperson's terms, the jury's role is to determine who do you believe and what really happened. After closing arguments, the jury retires to the jury room to deliberate. No one can be present but members of the jury.
Final argument is strictly limited to discussing the evidence admitted into the trial.
No new matter outside the record may be discussed. While the jury is deliberating, lawyers have to stay on call for a verdict or any special questions the jury may want to ask the judge. In the reduction in force trial, the jury can rule in favor of the Lab and against all five plaintiffs, for the five plaintiffs or for any two, three or four of them, Hughes said. Five former employees were chosen as plaintiffs in this case out of the 102 former employees who sued the Lab. Similar trials with other former employees may follow unless a settlement is reached or the judge finds there isn't enough evidence for additional trials, he said.