Jury Trials

Every tenant should request a jury trial in an eviction case because generally jurors tend to favor tenants and disfavor landlords. To request a jury trial, the tenant must file a Request for Jury Trial form, and of course pay. The tenant must pay the $150 jury trial fees five days before the trial date. Jury trials generally last two to five days and can cost the parties several thousand dollars.

The tenant is hoping that the landlord will settle before trial, or that he can prevail at trial because of the jury.  Additionally, few tenants realize that if the tenant wins, he may receive reasonable attorney fees, if the written rental agreement between the parties provides for these fees (which it probably does). Add insult to injury.

For landlords, Los Angeles Attorney, Dennis P. Block has written a lease agreement that limits reasonable attorney fees to $500. This makes a jury trial economically inefficient for a lawyer to pursue because the tenant's attorney will only have the potential to earning $500 for a trial that may last five days.  Mr. Block recommends that landlords check their rental agreements for attorney's fees limitations. If the rental agreement does not contain one, the landlord ought to serve on all month-to-month tenants a Change of Terms of Tenancy.