A jury demand you have already filed can be given up, and it does not always take a signature to do it.
The Two Formal Ways
OCGA 9-11-39(a) provides that the parties or their attorneys “by written stipulation filed with the court or by an oral stipulation made in open court and entered in the record, may consent to trial by the court sitting without a jury.”
Saying it out loud counts. In Dodd v. Dodd, 224 Ga. 746 (1968), a husband had a written jury demand on file, but his lawyer told the judge in open court that he was withdrawing it. The Georgia Supreme Court rejected the argument “that the written demand for a jury trial cannot be withdrawn orally in open court.”
Settling on the Record Waives It Too
In Vereen v. Vereen, 226 Ga. 500 (1970), a divorce trial was underway when the parties announced a settlement during a recess and the judge dismissed the jury without objection. The Supreme Court held that “the dismissal of the jury and announcement of an agreed property settlement must be construed as a waiver of jury trial as to all issues in the case, and not just the question of divorce.”
Conduct Can Waive It, but Absence Does Not
Matthews v. Matthews, 268 Ga. 863 (1998), holds that a spouse “can, by her voluntary actions, impliedly waive a demand for a jury trial,” and that this happens “where the party making the demand participates in a bench trial without objection.”
The wife in Matthews never appeared at the calendar call at all. Because she “did not take part in the trial at all, it cannot be said that she impliedly waived her jury trial demand.” Earlier authority treating a missed calendar call as a waiver was disapproved.
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This post is a quick overview of the law and is not intended as legal advice. Please feel free to contact our office for a consultation if you have questions about this or any other legal aspects regarding your case!