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Rule 39 Trial by Jury or by the Court

VI. Trials

(a) By Jury. — When a jury trial has been demanded under Rule 38, the action must be designated on the docket as a jury action. The trial on all issues so demanded must be by jury unless:

(1) the parties or their attorneys file a stipulation to a nonjury trial or so stipulate on the record; or

(2) the court, on motion or on its own, finds that on some or all of those issues there is no right to a jury trial; or

(3) when a party to the issue fails to appear at the trial, the parties appearing consent to trial by the court sitting without a jury.

(b) By the Court. — Issues on which a jury trial is not properly demanded are to be tried by the court. But the court may, on motion, order a jury trial on any issue for which a jury might have been demanded.

(c) Advisory Jury; Jury Trial by Consent. — In an action not triable of right by a jury, the court, on motion or on its own:

(1) may try any issue with an advisory jury; or

(2) may, with the parties’ consent, try any issue by a jury whose verdict has the same effect as if a jury trial had been a matter of right, unless the action is against the State of Wyoming when a statute provides for a nonjury trial.

Amendment history: Added February 2, 2017, effective March 1, 2017; amended October 6, 2020, effective December 7, 2020.