Rule 38.Jury Trial of Right

Division (A) preserves the right to trial by jury inviolate on any issue triable of right by a jury, leaving it to the Ohio Constitution, statutes, and case law to determine which issues qualify. Division (B) requires a written demand served on the other parties within fourteen days after the last pleading directed to the issue in question; the demand can be endorsed on a pleading, in which case the pleading's caption must read "jury demand endorsed hereon," or filed as a separate paper. In an action to appropriate a right of way brought by a corporation under the Ohio Constitution, the jury has twelve members unless a lesser number is demanded; in every other civil action, the jury has eight members unless a lesser number is demanded, and when more than one party timely demands a jury, the panel size is the greater number demanded, capped at twelve or eight as applicable.

Division (C) lets a party specify which issues it wants tried to a jury; specifying none is treated as a demand for a jury on every triable issue. If one party demands a jury on only some issues, any other party has fourteen days after that demand -- or less if the court orders -- to demand a jury on the remaining issues. Division (D) makes the failure to serve and file a timely demand a waiver of jury trial, and once made, a jury demand can't be withdrawn without the consent of all parties.