Defendant in Maritime Suit May Demand Jury Trial

In Spencer v. DOTD, No. 2003-CA-0539, decided August 11, the First Circuit held that, under the current version of La. C.C.P. Art. 1732, a defendant in a maritime personal-injury suit may demand a jury trial. Thus, the trial court committed reversible error by severing, for a separate bench trial, the plaintiff's claims for maintenance and cure. The plaintiff filed her amended petition seeking maintenance and cure after the defendant had filed its answer and jury-trial demand. Nonetheless, the defendant had demanded jury trial on "all issues," and thus was entitled to jury trial of issues raised by the later-filed amended petition.

In a companion decision, Spencer v. DOTD, No. 2003-CA-2849, the First Circuit held that the plaintiff could not squeeze under the $50,000 threshold for a jury trial by severing her claims for separate trials. After the trial court had conducted the bench trial of plaintiff's maintenance and cure claims, plaintiff tried to avoid a jury trial of her remaining claims by stipulating that those remaining claims were worth less than $50,000. The First Circuit held that the defendant's right to jury trial depends on the total value of all plaintiff's claims against the defendant.

Posted by RPW at August 13, 2004 06:07 PM