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Bealls wants a judgment overturned

Company attorneys seek to have a judgment of nearly $658,176 against the retailer overturned.

By JAMAL THALJI
Published July 27, 2005

DADE CITY - A judgment of more than $650,000 made against Bealls Department Stores Inc. should be overturned because a juror failed to disclose her criminal past, according to company attorneys.

A Pasco County jury on July 17 ordered the national retailer to pay nearly $658,176 to Betty Morris. The 62-year-old Brandon woman sued the company for negligence, saying she was injured in 2003 after tripping over a ladder at the Wesley Chapel store.

But now the company is demanding a new trial, and at the top of its list of reasons why is juror Linda Henderson, 37, of Zephyrhills.

Henderson swore before the Clerk of the Circuit Court that she could serve as a juror under state law, according to court documents, that she had not been previously convicted of a felony.

But Henderson has been convicted, according to the company's attorneys, of two counts of robbery in Hillsborough County in 1987. She was sentenced to 31/2 years in prison, according to records the company obtained.

Janet Keels, coordinator of the state's Office of Executive Clemency, said in a letter that there is no record of Henderson asking for or being granted clemency. Because Henderson's civil rights were never restored, the company said, she should never have been allowed to serve as a juror.

According to the affidavit of Elizabeth Smith, the jury manager in the Pasco County Courthouse, Henderson took the oath of a juror on July 11 and denied she had been convicted of a felony.

To be sure, Henderson would have been automatically excluded as a juror had she signed a form indicating she had criminal convictions, Smith said.

Times researcher Caryn Baird contributed to this report.

[Last modified July 27, 2005, 01:04:17]