Court Opinion

ID: 9753937
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-28 19:35:38.81597+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:27:45.372412
License: Public Domain

Dissenting Opinion by
Mb. Justice Benjamin R. Jones:
I dissent from that portion of the majority opinion interpretive of Rule 54 of the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County which provides for a trial of civil actions by a court without a jury. Under the provisions of that Rule a prerequisite to a trial without a jury is an agreement thereto on the part of all parties to the litigation. The instant record indicates simply that the defendants were absent at the time the action was called for trial; such absence does not equate an agreement on defendants’ part to a non-jury trial as contemplated by the Rule. Under the circumstances, the court below had no alternative other than to direct a trial of this action by a jury and, for that reason, I would grant a new trial.
Mr. Justice Cohen joins in this dissenting opinion.