Rule 75.Procedure for expedited trials.

A party who wants a jury trial on any issue triable of right by a jury must file and serve a demand under Rule 15-6-38(b); without it, the case is tried to the court. Once that is settled, the court sets the case for trial on a firm date certain, which it may later reschedule for the parties’ convenience, and absent good cause shown, the case must be tried within one year of filing.

Ahead of trial, the court controls the timing and extent of pretrial submissions through its own order. One submission is fixed by the rule itself: the parties must file a single jointly proposed set of jury instructions and verdict forms, filed electronically in word-processing format. Where an instruction or verdict form is controverted, each side must include its specific objections, supporting authority, and, if it wants, a proposed alternative for the court to approve, deny, or modify.

At trial, a jury case ordinarily uses twelve jurors selected from a panel of eighteen, with each side striking three, though the parties may stipulate to a smaller jury. A nonjury trial gives the court discretion to skip formal findings of fact and conclusions of law and instead use a general verdict, special verdicts, or interrogatory answers paired with the legal instructions a jury would have received, with the parties preserving objections and post-trial motions the same way they would in a jury trial. Either way, the case should ordinarily go to the jury within two business days of starting, and absent good cause for more time, each side gets no more than six hours total for jury selection, opening statements, presenting evidence, examining witnesses, and closing arguments. Time spent on objections, bench conferences, and for-cause juror challenges does not count against that limit.

The rule also streamlines evidence. Parties should stipulate to factual and evidentiary matters wherever they can, and a document can come into evidence without live custodian testimony if the offering party gives at least 90 days’ notice before trial with a copy of the document, the document appears authentic and non-hearsay, or fits a listed hearsay exception, on its face, and no party has raised a substantial question about its authenticity or trustworthiness. Any authenticity or hearsay objection to a noticed document must be raised within 30 days of receiving the notice. A health care provider’s statement can also substitute for live testimony under the separate evidence rule governing that procedure.