Rule 3.1545.Expedited jury trials

An expedited jury trial is California’s streamlined alternative to a full civil jury trial — a short trial before a smaller jury panel, built to resolve a case faster and cheaper than the traditional process. Rule 3.1545 is the gateway to the chapter that governs it, and it starts by identifying who the chapter covers: parties who voluntarily agree to an expedited trial under the Code of Civil Procedure’s voluntary expedited jury trial statutes, and parties in limited civil cases who are required to use the mandatory expedited jury trial track under a separate chapter of the same code.

The rule then defines the vocabulary the rest of the chapter relies on. A consent order is the court order that formally authorizes a voluntary expedited trial. An expedited jury trial itself is described as a short trial before a reduced jury panel, coming in either the mandatory or voluntary variety, each with its own statutory definition. High/low agreements — arrangements where the parties agree in advance to a floor and ceiling on the verdict amount — and posttrial motions both borrow their meanings from the same statutory source.

Rule 3.1545(c) closes with a reassurance: nothing in this chapter forecloses a court from using other expedited trial programs or alternative dispute resolution procedures. The expedited jury trial framework is one option among several, not a replacement for every other streamlined process a court might offer.