Beacon Theatres, Inc. v. Westover

Petitioner, Beacon Theatres, Inc., sought by mandamus to require a district judge in the Southern District of California to vacate certain orders alleged to deprive it of a jury trial of issues arising in a suit brought against it by Fox West Coast Theatres, Inc. The Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit refused the writ, holding that the trial judge had acted within his proper discretion in denying petitioner’s request for a jury. 252.F. 2d 864. We granted certiorari, 356 U. S. 956, because “Maintenance of the jury as a fact-finding body is of such importance and occupies so firm a place in…