MELANIE ANZIDEI
Staff Writer

We’ve all been in situations where we were unfairly accused. Like the time your friend broke the ‘bro-code’ and asked your crush out, or the time you got busted for having alcohol in your dorm that your friend left there from the night before. Those incidents have left us furious and, apart from an angry Twitter status update, there was very little we could do about it… until now.

InstantJury.com is a Web site dedicated to solving disputes among friends, family, co-workers, roommates and couples by officially and electronically placing ultimate blame on either the ‘plaintiff’ or ‘defendant’ of the case.

Co-founders of InstantJury.com, Stephen Pitt and Brett Reilly, worked together in creating the site to ensure that both sides to every story would be heard and the blame would always fall on the rightfully accused.

“If you have an issue with someone, just log on to our site, create a case, enter in stakes (what the loser stands to lose, anything from dinner or just to see who’s wrong), and put in the defendant’s e-mail address,” explained Pitt.

After receiving the accusation, the defendant then is able to accept or deny the stakes as well as post his or her side of the story. And with stakes ranging from dinner to a lump sum of cash, each side definitely has something to fight for besides their innocence and in some cases dignity.

Within a 24-hour voting period, a jury of strangers from around the world will decide who is guilty and who is innocent based on the plaintiff’s and defendant’s pleas.

According to the site’s press release, the jurors, registered site users, have surpassed 1,500 unique users.

The jurors play an important role in each case and have a unique opportunity to read relative arguments in support or opposition of the accusation. Then they cast their vote. After calculating the percentage of votes by the jury, the verdict is drawn for all to see.

But the defendants and plaintiffs are not the only ones who benefit from the online trial. Anytime jurors post a vote, the site rewards them with jury credits which could score you a prize in any of InstantJury.com’s monthly contests, according to Pitt.

Even more intriguing is that the site was created and founded by a Fairleigh Dickinson University alum. Pitt, who is originally from Millburn, moved to Hoboken with a group of friends soon after his graduation from the College at Florham in 2002.

As a result of his studies in economics, Pitt, alongside business partner Reilly, was able to form InstantJury.com through a business plan, help from a Web development company, a small business loan and a little bit of inspiration from unruly roommates.

“I guess our inspiration was from our great group of friends and family and all of the entertaining drama that came up in everyone’s lives in college and at work now,” confessed Pitt. Living with his friends came with several disputes, which inspired Pitt to think of alternative problem-solving methods.
So instead of leaving your roommate problems, couples’ dispute and other qualms unsolved, visit InstantJury.com to start up your case and name your stakes.

Within 24 hours you’ll be enjoying the spoils of victory over dinner or suffering an electronic blow to the ego.