Jury Trials

When a party has waived the right to a jury trial by one of the acts or omissions listed in CCP 631, it may still seek relief from that waiver under CCP 631(g).  A trial court exercises discretion in ruling on such a motion and need not grant the motion merely because granting the motion will not cause hardship to… Read More

A forum selection clause in defendant corporation's Delaware by-laws selecting the Delaware Chancery Court as the forum for any shareholder disputes was unenforceable in California state court because there is no right to a jury trial in Delaware Chancery Court so the forum selection clause operated as a pre-suit waiver of the constitutional right to a jury trial which cannot… Read More

This decision holds that an attorney's jury selection notes are not subject to absolute attorney work product protection in connection with a challenge to the jury panel or the judgment based on racial or other discriminatory use of peremptory challenges or claimed the Batson/Wheeler error.  An attorney’s jury selection notes are unlikely to reveal impressions, conclusions, or opinions about the… Read More

CCP 203(a)(5) used to provide that any person convicted of a felony could not serve as a juror.  Now it provides that persons convicted of a felony cannot serve as a juror while in prison or on parole or while required to register as a sex offender.  This decision holds that the sex offender exclusion satisfies the rational basis test… Read More

In this case, ZF sued TAT claiming that the director TAT appointed to ZF's predecessor, ZF Micro Devices, intentionally destroyed that corporation by disparaging its management and working behind the scenes to undermine its efforts to obtain funding.  This decision holds that ZF's claim is legal and must (at ZF's demand) be tried to a jury.  A director's duty to… Read More

Amato violated Riverside County's local rule about filing jointly prepared pretrial statement  witness and exhibit lists, and jury instructions the first day of a jury trial or before.  As a result, the trial court held that Amato had waived his right to a jury trial, and after hearing his evidence, granted a motion for judgment under CCP 631.8.  This decision… Read More

There is no right to a jury trial in a PAGA suit.  In such a suit a private plaintiff brings on the state's behalf a claim that otherwise would be handled by an administrative agency subject to trial court review, both without jury.  It would be anomalous to grant the private plaintiff greater rights than the administrative agency in whose… Read More

Defendant requested a jury and posted jury fees but withdrew his jury request the first day of trial.  Plaintiff then demanded a jury but hadn't posted jury fees.  The trial court found plaintiff had waived the right to a jury trial and it denied relief from that waiver.  Plaintiff did not immediately seek a writ to challenge the waiver ruling.… Read More

Disagreeing with Pulte Home Corp. v. CBR Electric, Inc. (2020) 50 Cal.App.5th 216, this decision holds that while an insurer's right to proceed on its insured's claim under the doctrine of equitable subrogation is an equitable claim as to which there is no right to a jury trial, if the claim to which the insurer successfully becomes subrogated is a… Read More

After the Court of Appeal decided in Hollingsworth v. Superior Court (2019) 37 Cal.App.5th 927 that the trial court, having first acquired jurisdiction, should decide whether the Workers Compensation Appeals Board had exclusive jurisdiction over this worker's injury suit--a question that turned on whether the employer had workers compensation insurance coverage at the time plaintiff was injured.  The plaintiff had… Read More

Both employer and employee signed a three-page standalone arbitration agreement, but both failed to put their initials by the bolded provision that said both waived the right to a jury trial.  This decision holds that the parties are bound by the arbitration agreement.  Their signatures showed their assent to its terms which unequivocally bound them to arbitrate.  The employee's uncommunicated… Read More

There is a constitutional right to a jury trial of a claim for nominal statutory damages of $1000 under the California Confidentiality of Medical Information Act. Read More

Trial court prejudicially erred in giving a special jury instruction that in determining whether the city's failure to repaint a faded cross-walk and maintain bushes was negligent, the jury could not consider the condition of the adjacent property or the design of the intersection. Read More

When plaintiff’s attorney improperly used a mini-opening to try to precondition potential jurors to vote in plaintiff's favor, the trial court did not abuse its discretion in not allowing mini-opening statements to the second and third venires of prospective jurors. Read More

When the government sues for civil penalties under a statutory cause of action, the defendant is entitled to a jury trial on the issue of liability but not the amount of any resulting civil penalty. Read More

A defendant in an unlawful detainer action has the right to a jury trial if there is a factual dispute over habitability of the premises. Read More

Trial court did not violate the parties’ right to a jury trial when it bifurcated a trial in a case involving mixed legal and equitable claims, trying the equitable claims first—after which it ruled plaintiff had not proven causation, thus precluding legal as well as equitable claims.  Read More

A trial court's order denying a party's demand for a jury trial is reviewable before trial by petition for a writ of mandate.  Read More

Juror was discharged and replaced too hastily without adequate investigation, after two fellow jurors complained that she did not participate in the first 90 minutes of deliberations.  Read More

For purposes of the five-year deadline for bringing a civil case to trial, trial “commences” when a jury is impaneled and sworn—even if the voir dire is not concluded within the five-year period.  Read More