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

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