San Antonio Eviction Lawyer - Bexar County Eviction Attorney - Trey Wilson Attorney in San Antonio, Texas wrote:
Although eviction cases, like most other civil cases, include a right to jury trial, my experience has been that this right is abused more often than not by tenants seeking unwarranted delay of the inevitable. After handling hundreds of eviction trials and appeals on behalf of landlords, I am convinced that the right to trial by jury should be eliminated (or severely abridged) in eviction cases. This may not be a popular viewpoint, but I believe it has merit.
By design, eviction cases are limited, with "the entitlement to actual and immediate possession" of certain premises being the sole issue to be determined by the court. Proof of that right is established on very specific evidence, which is usually documentary in nature (a lease, deed, etc. and a written notice to vacate). Frequently, absolutely no "fact" issues exist in an eviction lawsuit. That is, the only issues to be decided at trial are issues of "law," which are to be determined by a judge.
NOTE: Fact issues encompass matters of credibility, but not strictly legal issues, such as whether certain facts establish a claim or defense.
Although eviction cases, like most other civil cases, include a right to jury trial, my experience has been that this right is abused more often than not by tenants seeking unwarranted delay of the inevitable. After handling hundreds of eviction trials and appeals on behalf of landlords, I am convinced that the right to trial by jury should be eliminated (or severely abridged) in eviction cases. This may not be a popular viewpoint, but I believe it has merit.
By design, eviction cases are limited, with "the entitlement to actual and immediate possession" of certain premises being the sole issue to be determined by the court. Proof of that right is established on very specific evidence, which is usually documentary in nature (a lease, deed, etc. and a written notice to vacate). Frequently, absolutely no "fact" issues exist in an eviction lawsuit. That is, the only issues to be decided at trial are issues of "law," which are to be determined by a judge.
NOTE: Fact issues encompass matters of credibility, but not strictly legal issues, such as whether certain facts establish a claim or defense.
The Seventh Amendment (Amendment VII) to the United States Constitution codifies the right to a jury trial in certain civil cases, and inhibits courts from overturning a jury's findings of fact. The text of the 7th Amendment provides:
In Suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise re-examined in any Court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law.
Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 510.7(b) expressly extends the right to trial by jury to eviction cases:
Thus, the law is clear: if a party to a civil eviction case timely files a request, he is entitled to trial by jury.
Any party may file a written demand for trial by jury by making a request to the court at least 3 days before the trial date. The demand must be accompanied by payment of a jury fee or by filing a sworn statement of inability to pay the jury fee. If a jury is demanded by either party, the jury will be impaneled and sworn as in other cases; and after hearing the evidence it will return its verdict in favor of the plaintiff or the defendant. If no jury is timely demanded by either party, the judge will try the case.
However, since Rule 510.7 authorizes a jury to be demanded only 3 days before trial (by contrast, Rule 216 generally requires a jury demand to be filed 30 days before trial in higher Texas courts), it is fair to say that most Texas Justice Courts cannot be prepared to impanel a jury upon such short notice. A jury demand filed only 3 days in advance invariably delays an eviction trial and allows a tenant to remain in possession of premises while the Court scrambles to summon jurors and set aside time for the lengthy process of juror selection and trial.
Since a Plaintiff (usually landlord) can request a jury at the time that the eviction case is initiated, filing a last minute jury demand is almost exclusively within the province of the defendant/tenant. "Professional tenants" and lawyers who frequently represent tenants have been known to use jury demands solely to "buy time" during which a Defendant/tenant remains (for free) in a property which they have no legal right to possess. These tactics pervert the spirit of the 7th Amendment, and call into question the fundamental fairness of the right to jury trial in eviction cases.
