Ashley Dyer v. American Service Insurance Company, Secure Patient Delivery Shuttle, LLC, and Jeffery Duet ( 2019 )

STATE OF LOUISIANA
COURT OF APPEAL, FIRST CIRCUIT
ASHLEY DYER NO. 2019 CW 1605
VERSUS
AMERICAN SERVICE INSURANCE
COMPANY, SECURE PATIENT
DELIVERY SHUTTLE, LLC, AND DECEMBER 5, 2019
JEFFERY DUET
In Re: American Service Insurance Company and Secure Patient
Delivery Shuttle, LLC, applying for supervisory writs,
19th Judicial District Court, Parish of East Baton
Rouge, No. 672372.
BEFORE: McCLENDON, WELCH, AND HOLDRIDGE, JJ.
STAY DENIED; WRIT GRANTED IN PART WITH ORDER; WRIT DENIED
IN PART. The right of a litigant to a jury trial is fundamental
in character, and the courts will indulge every presumption
against a waiver, loss, or forfeiture thereof. Alkazin v. City
of Baton Rouge, 97- 0738 ( La. App. 1st Cir. 11/ 7/ 97), 705 So. 2d
208, 211- 12, citing Champagne v. American Southern Insurance
Company, 295 So. 2d 437, 439 ( La. 1974). The relators, American
Service Insurance Company and Secure Patient Delivery Shuttle,
LLC, timely requested a jury and filed the requisite cash
deposit for a jury trial in accordance with La. Code Civ. P.
art. 1734. 1. Thus, the district court abused its discretion by
denying the relators' request to accept the cash deposit for
jury costs. Accordingly, the trial court is ordered to
reinstate jury the
trial as requested by American Service
Insurance Company and Secure Patient Delivery Shuttle, LLC. The
trial court also abused its discretion by denying the relators'
motion to extend discovery and their motion to continue trial.
Accordingly, the trial court' s December 2, 2019 ruling denying
the relators' motion to extend discovery and motion to continue
trial is reversed and the relators are granted a continuance of
trial for a minimum of sixty days and additional time for
discovery until thirty days prior to the new trial date. The
portion of the writ
seeking review of the trial court' s ruling
denying the relators' motion to exclude the testimony of Lacy
Sapp and Dr. Jolly is denied as moot in light of the extension
of time for discovery and continuance of trial. The trial court
has yet to rule on the relators' motion to strike items in the
plaintiff' s pre- trial order and therefore the writ is denied as
to that issue as there is no ruling for this court to review.
PMc
JEW
GH
COURT OF APPEAL, FIRST CIRCUIT
EPUTY CLERK OF COURT
FOR THE COURT