What Is a Jury Summons Letter in California?

A jury summons in California is a court order requiring you to make yourself available for jury service at a specific Superior Court on a specific date. Your name was pulled at random from registered voters, DMV records, and state income tax filers for your county.¹ It is not an invitation. You must respond by the deadline on the letter, and ignoring it can bring fines or, in serious cases, jail time.

What the Letter Asks You to Do First

Open the summons and find three things: your Juror ID or Badge Number, your assigned Superior Court location, and the deadline to complete the juror questionnaire. The Juror ID is what you’ll use for every interaction with the court, including checking your reporting status the night before you serve.

Responding is mandatory. Most counties let you fill out the questionnaire through an online portal using the Juror ID, and you can also mail back the paper form that came with the summons. The questionnaire asks about your citizenship, county of residence, English proficiency, and criminal history. These questions track the legal qualifications for service, so answer accurately.² If your answers show you’re disqualified or qualify for an excuse, the court handles that on the spot. Otherwise, you’re confirmed in the pool and will get reporting instructions closer to your date.

Who Cannot Serve on a California Jury

Disqualification is automatic. Under Code of Civil Procedure Section 203, you cannot serve if any of the following apply:

You are not a U.S. citizen.
You are under 18.
You are not a resident of California, or not a resident of the county that summoned you.
You do not have enough English proficiency to understand the proceedings. A physical disability like hearing loss alone does not disqualify you.
You have a felony conviction and are currently on parole, post-release community supervision, felony probation, or mandated supervision.
You were convicted of malfeasance in office and your civil rights have not been restored.
You are currently incarcerated in a prison or jail.
You are under a conservatorship.
You are already serving as a grand or trial juror in another California court.
You are required to register as a sex offender based on a felony conviction.

You indicate any of these on the questionnaire and the court removes you from the pool. No other reason can legally bar you from service.²

If You Can’t Serve on the Date Assigned

You have two different options, and courts treat them differently. A deferral moves your service to another date. An excuse releases you from this summons entirely.

Deferral

Courts generally allow one postponement of up to 90 days from the original summons date.³ This is the right choice for a planned vacation, a medical appointment, finals, or any other temporary conflict. Courts grant deferrals readily because you’re still going to serve, just later.

Hardship Excuse

An excuse is harder to get. California Rule of Court 2.1008 lists specific grounds that count as undue hardship:

Extreme financial burden. The court looks at your household income, whether your employer pays during service, and whether serving would compromise your ability to support yourself or your dependents.
No reasonable transportation to the courthouse, or reasonable travel time exceeding an hour and a half each way.
You are the sole person available to care for a dependent who cannot care for themselves.
Your absence would create a real risk of damage to property you’re responsible for, with no way to arrange otherwise.
A physical or mental condition that would expose you to undue risk of harm during service.

Inconvenience to you or to your employer is not enough. Documentation strengthens the request: a doctor’s note, employer letter, or financial records, depending on the ground.⁴

Permanent Medical Exemption

If a permanent disability makes jury service impossible, you can apply to be removed from future summonses entirely. You’ll need a letter from your treating health care provider that is on the provider’s letterhead, states that you have a permanent disability preventing jury service, and is signed by the provider.⁵ Qualifying providers include physicians, psychologists, nurse practitioners, therapists, and others licensed under state or federal law.

What Reporting Day Actually Looks Like

The evening before your assigned date, check the court’s automated phone line or online status page with your Juror ID. The system tells you whether to show up the next morning or whether your group has been released. Entire groups are frequently excused when no trials are starting, so skipping this call-in step is how people end up driving downtown for nothing.

California uses a One Day or One Trial system. If you report and are not selected for a trial by the end of the day, your obligation is done. If you are seated on a trial, you serve for the length of that one case. Either way, when you finish you are exempt from being summoned again for at least 12 months. Some courts extend that exemption to three years if you were actually sworn in on a trial.

Juror Pay and Your Job

California pays jurors $15 per day starting on the second day of service; the first day is unpaid. Mileage reimbursement is $0.34 per mile for travel to and from the courthouse, also starting after the first day.⁶ If you work for a government agency or other public entity and continue drawing your regular salary while you serve, you don’t get the $15 daily fee.

Private employers are not required to pay you during jury duty, though many choose to. What they are required to do is leave your job alone. California Labor Code Section 230 prohibits your employer from firing, demoting, suspending, or retaliating against you for taking time off to serve, as long as you give reasonable advance notice of the summons.⁷ If retaliation happens, you can get reinstatement, lost wages, and lost benefits.

What Happens If You Ignore the Summons

People sometimes assume nothing will come of ignoring a summons. California Code of Civil Procedure Section 209 gives courts a specific enforcement ladder, and the process plays out in stages.

Ignore the first summons and the court can send a second one at least 90 days later, noting that you failed to respond before. Ignore the second and the court sends a failure-to-appear notice warning that fines may follow. Still no response, and the court issues an order to show cause requiring you to explain yourself. The monetary sanctions are graduated: up to $250 for a first violation, up to $750 for a second, and up to $1,500 for a third or subsequent violation.⁸

Courts also have a separate contempt option, which can carry a fine, up to five days in jail, or both.⁹ Courts don’t lead with jail, but the authority exists, and some counties have said publicly that they are enforcing these penalties. Paying a fine also does not erase your underlying obligation to serve.

How to Tell a Real Summons From a Scam

Scammers call and email people claiming they missed jury duty and demanding immediate payment to avoid arrest. A few rules will let you spot every version of this:

Real summonses arrive by mail. Courts do not summon jurors by phone call, email, or text.
No court will ever ask you to pay a fine with a gift card, cryptocurrency, wire transfer, or payment app.
No court will ask for your bank account number, credit card number, or Social Security number over the phone or by email.¹⁰

If you get one of these calls, give no information. Call the jury office of your local Superior Court directly to check whether you actually have an obligation, and report the contact to your local police department’s fraud unit.

1
California Legislative Information. California Code of Civil Procedure Section 197
2
California Legislative Information. California Code of Civil Procedure Section 203
3
Superior Court of California, County of San Bernardino. Deferrals / Excusals
4
Judicial Branch of California. Rule 2.1008 – Excuses From Jury Service
5
Judicial Branch of California. Rule 2.1009 – Permanent Medical Excuse From Jury Service
6
California Legislative Information. California Code of Civil Procedure Section 215
7
California Legislative Information. California Labor Code Section 230
8
California Legislative Information. California Code of Civil Procedure Section 209
9
Superior Court of California, County of San Bernardino. Failure to Appear/Respond to a Jury Summons
10
Judicial Branch of California. Jury Scam Alert