Jury Waiver and Civil Rule 38 (D)

Ohio Rule of Civil Procedure 38 (D) requires that once a jury demand has been filed by a party, that party cannot withdraw or waive the jury trial without getting the consent of all the parties to the litigation, even if they haven't filed a jury demand on their pleadings. This is because if a party files a jury demand, then other parties may rely on that demand being filed and won't file their own demand.

If a party filing a jury demand wishes to waive jury trial and the other parties agree, then a recommended procedure would be to file a pleading with the jury waiver signed by the attornies for all parties. In Medina County we bring jurors in for each trial as opposed to having a standing pool of potential jurors. This means that if a jury trial has been scheduled in our court and we are not informed of a jury waiver, we will tax as costs the fees we pay to the jurors, even if the jury trial doesn't go forward.