EJT-001-INFO Expedited Jury Trial Information Sheet mandatory ones do, but have one other important aspect--all parties must waive their rights to appeal. In order to help keep down the costs of litigation, there are no appeals following a voluntary expedited jury trial except in very limited circumstances. These are explained more fully in 9 . . 3 This information sheet is for anyone involved in a civil lawsuit who will be taking part in an expedited jury trial--a trial that is shorter and has a smaller jury than a traditional jury trial. You can find the law and rules governing expedited jury trials in Code of Civil Procedure sections 630.01­630.29 and in rules 3.1545­3.1553 of the California Rules of Court. You can find these at any county law library or online. The statutes are online at http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes.xhtml. The rules are at www.courts.ca.gov/rules. 1 Will the case be in front of a judge? The trial will take place at a courthouse and a judge, or, if you agree, a temporary judge (a court commissioner or an experienced attorney that the court appoints to act as a judge) will handle the trial. 4 What is an expedited jury trial? Does the jury have to reach a unanimous decision? An expedited jury trial is a short trial, generally lasting only one or two days. It is intended to be quicker and less expensive than a traditional jury trial. As in a traditional jury trial, a jury will hear your case and will reach a decision about whether one side has to pay money to the other side. An expedited jury trial differs from a regular jury trial in several important ways: The trial will be shorter. Each side has 5 hours to pick a jury, put on all its witnesses, show the jury its evidence, and argue its case. The jury will be smaller. There will be 8 jurors instead of 12. Choosing the jury will be faster. The parties will exercise fewer challenges. 2 No. Just as in a traditional civil jury trial, only threequarters of the jury must agree in order to reach a decision in an expedited jury trial. With 8 people on the jury, that means that at least 6 of the jurors must agree on the verdict in an expedited jury trial. 5 Is the decision of the jury binding on the parties? Generally, yes, but not always. A verdict from a jury in an expedited jury trial is like a verdict in a traditional jury trial. The court will enter a judgment based on the verdict, the jury's decision that one or more defendants will pay money to the plaintiff or that the plaintiff gets no money at all. But parties in an expedited jury trial, like in other kinds of trials, are allowed to make an agreement before the trial that guarantees that the defendant will pay a certain amount to the plaintiff even if the jury decides on a lower payment or no payment. That agreement may also put a cap on the highest amount that a defendant has to pay, even if the jury decides on a higher amount. These agreements are known as "high/low agreements." You should discuss with your attorney whether you should enter into such an agreement in your case and how it will affect you. 6 What cases have expedited jury trials? Mandatory expedited jury trials. All limited civil cases--cases where the demand for damages or the value of property at issue is $25,000 or less--come within the mandatory expedited jury trial procedures. These can be found in the Code of Civil Procedure, starting at section 630.20. Unless your case is an unlawful detainer (eviction) action, or meets one of the exceptions set out in the statute, it will be within the expedited jury trial procedures. These exceptions are explained more in 7 below. Voluntary expedited jury trials. If your civil case is not a limited civil case, or even if it is, you can choose to take part in a voluntary expedited jury trial, if all the parties agree to do so. Voluntary expedited jury trials have the same shorter time frame and smaller jury that the How else is an expedited jury trial different? The goal of the expedited jury trial process is to have shorter and less expensive trials. The cases that come within the mandatory expedited jury trial procedures are all limited civil actions, and they must proceed under the limited discovery and EJT-001-INFO, Page 1 of 2 American LegalNet, Inc. www.FormsWorkFlow.com ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Judicial Council of California, www.courts.ca.gov Revised July 1, 2016, Mandatory Form Code of Civil Procedure, § 630.01­630.10 Cal. Rules of Court, rules 3.1545­3.1553 Expedited Jury Trial Information Sheet EJT-001-INFO Expedited Jury Trial Information Sheet document called [Proposed] Consent Order for Voluntary Expedited Jury Trial, which will be submitted to the court for approval. (Form EJT-020 may be used for this.) The court must issue the consent order as proposed by the parties unless the court finds good cause why the action should not proceed through the expedited jury trial process. 9 _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ pretrial rules that apply to those actions. See Code of Civil Procedure sections 90­100. The voluntary expedited jury trial rules set up some special procedures to help those cases have shorter and less expensive trials. For example, the rules require that several weeks before the trial takes place, the parties show each other all exhibits and tell each other what witnesses will be at the trial. In addition, the judge will meet with the attorneys before the trial to work out some things in advance. The other big difference is that the parties in either kind of expedited jury trial can make agreements about how the case will be tried so that it can be tried quickly and effectively. These agreements may include what rules will apply to the case, how many witnesses can testify for each side, what kind of evidence may be used, and what facts the parties already agree to and so do not need the jury to decide. The parties can agree to modify many of the rules that apply to trials generally or to any pretrial aspect of the expedited jury trials. 7 Why do I give up most of my rights to an appeal in a voluntary expedited jury trial? Do I have to have an expedited jury trial if my case is for $25,000 or less? Not always. There are some exceptions. The mandatory expedited jury trial procedures do not apply to any unl