How to Demand a Jury Trial in California: Fee, Timing, and Waiver

To demand a jury trial in California civil court, you must pay a $150 nonrefundable jury fee and affirmatively announce that a jury is required, both within specific windows set by Code of Civil Procedure section 631. Miss either step and you have waived the right, even if you always intended to have a jury. Criminal cases work in reverse: a jury is the default, and you do not demand one at all.

The $150 Nonrefundable Jury Fee

At least one party on each side of a civil case must pay a $150 nonrefundable fee to preserve the jury right. If a co-plaintiff or co-defendant on your side has already paid, you are covered; the other side still has to pay separately if they also want a jury.¹

When the fee is due depends on the type of case and when you entered it:

Standard civil cases with a case management conference: on or before the date of the initial case management conference.
Cases with no case management conference scheduled: no later than 365 calendar days after the initial complaint was filed.
Unlawful detainer (eviction) cases: at least five days before the trial date.
Parties who first appear after the case management conference or more than 365 days after the complaint was filed: at least 25 days before the trial date.¹

For most standard civil cases, the case management conference is the real deadline. The 365-day rule is a fallback for cases where no conference is scheduled, not a universal cutoff.

Announcing the Demand When Trial Is Set

Paying the fee is not enough. You must also announce that a jury is required at the point the case is first set for trial. If the trial date is fixed by notice or agreement among the parties, that is when you announce. If the court sets the trial date without notice to you, you have five days after receiving notice of the setting to make the announcement.¹ Silence at that moment is one of the statutory waivers.

Daily Juror Costs Once Trial Starts

The $150 fee gets you in the door. Once trial begins, the party who demanded the jury must deposit each day’s juror fees and mileage with the court clerk at the start of every session after the first day. If both sides requested a jury, the court splits these daily costs between them by agreement or by order.¹ In a longer trial these deposits add up, so plan the budget around them.

How You Can Waive the Right Without Meaning To

Code of Civil Procedure section 631 lists the specific ways a civil jury right is waived. Any one of them is enough:

Failing to appear at trial.
Filing a written waiver with the clerk or judge.
Stating on the record in open court that you waive the jury.
Failing to announce that a jury is required when the case is first set for trial, or within five days after notice of the setting.
Failing to timely pay the $150 nonrefundable fee, unless another party on the same side has already paid it.¹

The announcement and fee deadlines are what catch litigants most often. Intending to have a jury is not the same as demanding one. The right is preserved through affirmative steps in specific windows, and once waived the case is headed for a bench trial unless the court steps in.

Getting Relief After a Waiver

A waiver is not always final. Section 631(g) gives the trial court discretion to allow a jury trial anyway. The statute provides that the court “may, in its discretion upon just terms, allow a trial by jury although there may have been a waiver of a trial by jury.”²

California courts have historically read this provision liberally in favor of jury trials when relief will not prejudice the other side or disrupt the court’s calendar. But discretion means no guarantee. The closer you are to trial, the harder the motion gets. Filing early, explaining the oversight honestly, and showing the other side is not harmed gives you the best chance. Treating section 631(g) as a backup plan rather than meeting the original deadlines is risky.

Criminal Cases: Jury Is the Default

You do not demand a jury in a California criminal case. You get one automatically. The Penal Code provides that no person can be convicted of a public offense except by a jury verdict, a court finding after the jury has been waived, or a guilty plea.³ Every felony defendant gets a 12-person jury by default, and misdemeanor defendants also receive 12 jurors unless both sides agree to fewer.

Waiving a jury in a criminal case takes more than the defendant’s say-so. The California Constitution requires the consent of both parties expressed in open court: the defendant and defense counsel must agree, and the prosecution must also consent.⁴ If the prosecutor objects, the case goes to a jury regardless. The jury question typically comes up at arraignment or in pretrial hearings, and saying nothing means the court assumes you want a jury. That is the opposite of the civil rule, where silence waives.

When There Is No Jury Right to Demand

Article I, Section 16 of the California Constitution calls trial by jury an “inviolate right,”⁴ but not every civil case qualifies. The right attaches to claims that are legal in nature, meaning claims seeking money damages. Purely equitable cases, where you are asking the court for an injunction, specific performance, or similar non-monetary relief, carry no constitutional jury right. Mixed cases with both damages and equitable relief generally preserve the jury right on the legal claims. Certain equitable statutory claims, including some unfair competition actions, may have no jury right at all even when monetary penalties are sought. Before paying the fee, confirm your claims are the kind a jury can decide.

1
California Legislative Information. California Code of Civil Procedure CCP 631
2
California Legislative Information. California Code of Civil Procedure CCP 631
3
California Legislative Information. California Penal Code 689
4
Justia. California Constitution Article I – Declaration of Rights – Section 16