Plaintiff filed suit alleging damages in excess of $75,000 and expressly demanded a trial by jury. Plaintiff subsequently filed an amending petition reducing her demand to the sum of $19,832.20, just below the jurisdictional amount required for a jury trial under LSA-C.C.P. Art. 1732(1). See Act 766 of 1987. Several days later the plaintiff filed a motion seeking to withdraw her request for trial by jury which was granted by the trial court. Louisiana Farm Bureau Casualty Insurance Company timely filed a motion for a trial by jury which was denied by the trial court. LSA-C.C.P. Art. 1733.
Our law does not contenance procedural maneuvers designed solely for the purpose of depriving a litigant of a right to a jury trial on the basis of jurisdictional amount. Cuny v. Guidry,
WRIT GRANTED: IT IS ORDERED that the trial court vacate, annul and set aside its ruling denying defendant’s request for trial by jury. It is also ordered that the trial court grant Louisiana Farm Bureau’s request for trial by jury and allow the defendant to post their jury cost bond.
