Sharell Horton and Andrea Norwood v. Baton Rouge Police Department, City of Baton Rouge/Parish of East Baton Rouge, Saundra W. Watts, and State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company

STATE OF LOUISIANA COURT OF APPEAL, FIRST CIRCUIT SHARELL HORTON AND ANDREA NO. 2022 CW 0016 NORWOOD VERSUS BATON ROUGE POLICE DEPARTMENT, CITY OF BATON ROUGE/ EAST BATON ROUGE PARISH, SAUNDRA W. WATTS, MARCH 10, 2022 AND STATE FARM MUTUAL AUTOMOBILE INSURANCE COMPANY In Re: City of Baton Rouge/ Parish of East Baton Rouge, applying for supervisory writs, 19th Judicial District Court, Parish of East Baton Rouge, No. 681306. BEFORE: McDONALD, LANIER, AND WOLFE, TT. WRIT GRANTED. The district court' s August 2, 2021 ruling granting plaintiffs' motion to the is strike jury reversed. A pleading demanding a jury trial must be filed no later than ten days after service of the last pleading directed to any issue triable by jury. La. Code Civ. P. art. 1733( C). The defendant, the City/ Parish of East Baton Rouge, filed an answer on March 26, 2021, in which it included for a request a jury trial. A defendant may file its answer at any time prior to the signing of a default judgment against him. La. Code Civ. P. art. 1002. No default judgment was signed in this case, and therefore, the answer filed by the City/ Parish of East Baton Rouge was timely filed. Since defendant' s jury demand was made in an answer, it necessarily was filed within ten days from the last pleading directed to issue triable by any jury. See Boudreaux v. Total CATV, Inc., 536 So. 2d 571, 572 ( La. lst App. Cir. 1988). Therefore, plaintiffs' motion to strike the jury is denied. JMM WIL EW COURT OF APPEAL, FIRST CIRCUIT [01] 4DETY FOR CLE THE K OF COURT COURT