THE SHRINKING SHELTER OF RELIEF FROM JURY TRIAL WAIVERS

Written by Judith E. Posner^* & Kian Tamaddoni^*

The constitutional right to a jury in California is enshrined in the state Constitution as an "inviolate right." (Cal. Const., art. I, § 16.) It is a "basic and fundamental part of our system of jurisprudence." (Byram v. Superior Court (1977) 74 Cal.App.3d 648, 654.) Traditionally, courts have deemed the right "so important that it must be ‘zealously guarded’ … " (Grafton Partners v. Superior Court (2005) 36 Cal.4th 944, 956.) Despite its prominence in our judicial system, the right to a jury trial can be easily lost. Civil litigants in California can waive the jury trial right in a number of ways, either intentionally or inadvertently, and often when it might seem unfair and contrary to a basic sense of justice. This article explores the statutory scheme governing jury trial waivers, available procedural remedies, the challenges for obtaining relief from waiver following the Supreme Court’s 2024 decision in TriCoast Builders, Inc. v. Fonnegra (2024) 15 Cal.5th 766, and possible avenues for litigants to safeguard their jury trial right.

THE LEGISLATIVE PRONOUNCEMENT ON WAIVING A JURY TRIAL AND GETTING ONE BACK

The California Constitution accords every civil litigant, in the first instance, the right to a trial by jury. (Cal. Const., art. I, § 16.) The Legislature has codified this right in Code of Civil Procedure section 631, which states the right to a trial by jury as declared in our state’s Constitution "shall be preserved to the parties inviolate." (Code Civ. Proc., § 631, subd. (a).) The same statute, however, provides for the waiver of the right to a jury in any of six enumerated ways. (Id., subd. (f).)