Rule 73.01.Trial Without Jury or With An Advisory Jury--Procedure.

Rule 73.01 is the bench-trial counterpart to the jury-trial rules, and it also covers trials with an advisory jury. The court rules on evidence objections the same way it would in a jury case, and where evidence is ruled inadmissible, the court must, on request, take and record it in full unless it's clearly inadmissible on any ground or privileged.

After the plaintiff finishes presenting evidence, the defendant may move for judgment on the ground that, under the facts and the law, the plaintiff isn't entitled to relief — and filing that motion doesn't waive the defendant's right to put on its own evidence. The court then renders the judgment it thinks proper under the law and the evidence.

If a party asks, the court must dictate to the reporter, or prepare and file, a brief opinion stating the grounds for its decision and how it decided any damages. The court may, and must if a party requests it, include findings on the controverted material fact issues the party specifies, and any request for an opinion or findings has to come on the record before evidence is introduced at trial or at a later time the court allows. Any fact issue without a specific finding is treated as decided consistent with the result reached.

Finally, except as Rule 78.07(c) provides, a party may — but doesn't have to — file a motion for new trial or a motion to amend the judgment or opinion, or both, under Rule 78.04. That makes post-trial motion practice optional after a bench trial in a way it typically isn't after a jury verdict under Rule 72.01.