Landlord Tenant Disputes – Preparing For Jury Trials

It is common place for tenants being evicted to seek legal help from the numerous organizations offering qualifying tenants with free legal representation in contesting or fighting their eviction.  Public Counsel, The Inner City Law Center and Legal Aid, are some of the organizations that offer tenanct eviction defense in Los Angeles.  Our Eviction Attorneys in Los Angeles have faced these tenant rights attorneys on numerous occasions.  When faced with a tenant’s rights attorney, landlords can typically expect the tenant to request and demand a jury trial.  Even though jury trials cost money, tenants may seek a jury fee waiver upon submitting a form and bypass the requirement to pay jury costs.  The net result is that a landlord now faces the prospect of putting on their case, as solid as may be, in front of a jury.  Thus, a landlord facing a jury trial for a Los Angeles eviction must prepare jury instructions, a trial brief, a statement of the case, a verdict form, a witness list and an exhibit list.  Without a jury trial, these documents are not required as a judge will hear your case without all the jury trial documents listed above.  As far as our eviction attorneys can tell, these jury trial demands are made to increase a tenant’s leverage in settling the case.  Landlords must be prepared however, to face a jury trial and be ready for a jury trial.

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