Kavcic v. Broadcom Inc.

Opinion

1 2 3 4 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 5 NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 6 7 ALEKSANDAR KAVCIC, Case No. 20-cv-01246-JD

8 Plaintiff, ORDER RE TRIAL v. 9

10 BROADCOM INC., et al., Defendants. 11

12 13 In the order denying summary judgment, the Court directed the parties to file a joint 14 statement with respect to whether the trial should be by jury or the Court. Dkt. No. 146 at 3. In 15 the joint statement, plaintiff Kavcic proposed a bench trial primarily on the grounds that he never 16 requested a jury, and that defendant Broadcom filed its counterclaims for breach of contract in 17 June 2020 without a jury trial demand and subsequently embraced a bench trial in all pertinent 18 filings up to the summary judgment order. Dkt. No. 149 at 2. Broadcom forthrightly 19 acknowledged these circumstances, and stated that it had not made a timely jury trial demand 20 under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 38. Id. at 3. Even so, Broadcom invited the Court to order 21 a jury trial pursuant to Rule 39(b). Id. 22 As much as the Court would like to grant Broadcom’s request, Rule 39(b) does not permit 23 a jury trial in this case. There is no question that the Seventh Amendment and the fair and 24 efficient administration of justice amply warrant a jury trial in light of Broadcom’s damages 25 demand and contract claims. But the Court’s discretion here is “narrow,” and Rule 39(b) “does 26 not permit a court to grant relief when the failure to make a timely demand results from an 27 oversight or inadvertence.” Pac. Fisheries Corp. v. HIH Cas. & Gen. Ins., Ltd., 239 F.3d 1000, 1 Southern California Edison Co., 302 F.3d 1080, 1086-1087 (9th Cir. 2002) (same). Broadcom did 2 || not demonstrate that the omission of a jury trial demand was the result of something other than 3 oversight or mistake. Consequently, the case will be tried by the Court. 4 The pretrial conference set for February 1, 2024, is vacated. A bench trial is set for 5 February 13-14, 2024, at 9:00a.m. Each side will have 4 hours of trial time, and up to an 6 additional 25 minutes per side for closing statements. The parties will file by January 29, 2024, a 7 || joint pretrial statement that also contains the information requested by the Court in the summary 8 || judgment order. See Dkt. No. 146 at 3. 9 IT IS SO ORDERED. 10 || Dated: January 17, 2024 11 12 JAMES #MONATO 13 United fftates District Judge © 15 16

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