Jury Waiver Clauses

In the case of Grafton Partners LP v. Superior Court (PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP) Case No. S123344, the California Supreme Court overruled the Trizec Properties, Inc. v. Superior Court (1991) 229 Cal.App.3d 1616 (Trizec), which had previously held that commercial predispute contractual waivers of trial by jury are enforceable.

A party waives trial by jury in any of the following ways: By failing to appear at the trial; By written consent filed with the clerk or judge; By oral consent, in open court, entered in the minutes; By failing to announce that a jury is required, at the time the cause is first set for trial, if it is set upon notice or stipulation, or within five days after notice of setting if it is set without notice or stipulation; By failing to timely pay the fee, unless another party on the same side of the case has paid that fee; or By failing to deposit with the clerk or judge, at the beginning of the second and each succeeding day's session, a sum equal to that day's fees and mileage of the jury. The court may, in its discretion upon just terms, allow a trial by jury although there may have been a waiver of a trial by jury. (West's Ann.Cal.C.C.P. § 631)