Jury Waiver Clauses
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Statutes
"The New Jersey Constitution provides that, ""the right of trial by jury shall remain inviolate."" N.J. CONST. ART. 1 ยง 9.
The failure of a party to serve a demand constitutes a waiver of trial by jury. When trial by jury has been demanded, there must be a jury trial unless all parties consent to trial by the court without a jury, or unless the court on a party's or its own motion finds that a right of trial by jury of some or all of those issues does not exist. N.J. Rules of Court 4:35-1.
Cases
Legal precedent indicates that parties may contractually waive the constitutional right of trial by jury in certain circumstances. See Franklin Discount Co. v. Ford, 27 N.J. 473 (1958); Rudbart v. Dist. Water Supply Comm., 238 N.J. Super. 41, 48 (App. Div. 1990). Jury waiver clauses, however, which are neither negotiated, or are conspicuously written in an adhesion contract, and not entered into with the assistance of counsel, should not be enforced. See Fairfield Leasing Corp. v. Techni-Graphics, Inc., 256 N.J. Super. 538, 544 (1992)
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Contributors
Lawrence F. Flick, II
Blank Rome LLP
The statutory information was edited and reviewed with the support of MultiState
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