A. Where a principal demand is commenced in a parish or city court in which the defendant would otherwise be entitled to trial by jury under the provisions of Article 1731, or under any other provision of law, the defendant may obtain trial by jury by transferring the action to the district court in the manner provided by Article 4873. B. Where a principal demand commenced in a parish or city court is one in which the defendant was not entitled to trial by jury under the provisions of Article 1731, a party who files an incidental demand in that court as authorized by Article 4846 waives any right he may have to jury trial on such incidental demand.
Art. 4872.Transfer to District Court
Book VIII. Trial Courts of Limited Jurisdiction · Title I. General Dispositions · Chapter 4. Jury Trials Prohibited; Transfer to District Court · Enacted 1979 · no amendments on record · Last verified July 30, 2026
In one sentenceArticle 4872 lets a defendant who would otherwise be entitled to a jury trial transfer a principal demand from parish or city court to district court to obtain one, while treating a party who files an incidental demand in a non-jury-eligible case as waiving jury trial on that incidental demand.
Full Text of Art. 4872
Amendment History
Acts 1979, No. 46, §1, eff. 1/1/1980.
Plain-English Summary
Article 4872 gives the jury-trial workaround its basic shape. When a principal demand — the main claim in the lawsuit — is filed in a parish or city court, and the defendant would have been entitled to a jury trial under Article 1731 or some other law had the same claim been filed in district court instead, the defendant can transfer the action up to district court and get that jury trial there. Article 4873 spells out how.
Article 4872 also closes a loophole running the other way. Suppose the principal demand itself is not one that carries a jury-trial right — a small claim below the relevant threshold, for instance. If a party responds by filing an incidental demand, such as a reconventional demand authorized under Article 4846's rules on incidental demands in these courts, that party gives up any jury-trial right on the incidental demand by choosing to bring it in the parish or city court in the first place.
Together, the two paragraphs draw a clean line: a genuine jury-eligible principal demand can be moved to a court that can offer a jury, but a party cannot manufacture a jury-trial right by tacking an incidental claim onto a case that was never jury-eligible to start with.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who can transfer a case to district court to get a jury trial?
The defendant, when they would have been entitled to a jury trial under Article 1731 or other law had the case been filed in district court to begin with.
Does filing a reconventional demand in parish court give me jury trial rights?
No. If the principal demand was not jury-eligible, filing an incidental demand there under Article 4846 waives any jury-trial right on that incidental demand.
What law determines whether I would have gotten a jury trial in district court?
Article 1731 and the other jury-trial provisions applicable in an ordinary proceeding, applied as if the case had been filed in district court from the start.
How do I carry out the transfer Article 4872 allows?
By following the procedure Article 4873 sets out.
Source & verification. Article text is reproduced verbatim from
the Louisiana Code of Civil Procedure (legis.la.gov). Enacted by the Louisiana Legislature.
Last verified July 30, 2026.
· Official source
Also known as: transfer parish court case for jury trialArticle 4872 Louisianaincidental demand jury trial waiverdefendant right to jury trial Louisiana parish courtArticle 1731 jury trial transfer