Koenig v. Nardello

This is a personal injury action in which defendant filed an answer and a jury demand. When the case was regularly reached for trial on May 9, 1967, the assignment judge denied a request of defendant’s counsel for a continuance because defendant was out of town and unavailable. The case was then assigned to a magistrate where, on the assumption of both court and counsel that a default order had been entered by the assignment judge, it was submitted to a jury on the single issue of damages, over defendant’s objections that he was entitled to a jury trial on both issues of liability and…