JURY TRIALS – Amended December 1, 2009

            A statement of consent to have a jury trial conducted by a Bankruptcy Judge under 28 U.S.C. § 157(e) must be filed not later than fourteen (14) days after the service of the last pleading directed to the issue for which the demand was made.

Comment

           Section 157(e) of title 28 provides that a Bankruptcy Judge may conduct a jury trial on proper demand with the consent of the parties to the proceeding if the District Court has specifically designated the Bankruptcy Court to exercise such jurisdiction. The District Court, by order dated December 7, 1994, has specifically designated the Bankruptcy Court to conduct jury trials pursuant to section 157(e). Bankruptcy Rule 9015(b) provides that the time for filing a statement of consent to a jury trial shall be specified by local rule.

           This rule provides a fourteen (14) day period for filing the statement of consent, which runs from the service of the last pleading, as specified in Bankruptcy Rule 7007.

           This rule was amended in 2009 to change the time period from ten (10) to fourteen (14) days.  The purpose of the amendment was to conform the time period in this rule to the 2009 time-related amendments to the Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure.  Throughout the Bankruptcy Rules, as well as the Local Bankruptcy Rules, most time periods that are shorter than thirty (30) days were changed so that the number of days is in multiples of seven (7), thereby reducing the likelihood that time periods will end on a Saturday or Sunday.