Hannah v. United Refrigeration Services, Inc.

ORDER

This is an appeal of an order granting respondent’s motion for a jury trial under Rule 39(b), SCRCP. Appellants assert the order is directly appealable because it deprives them of a mode of trial to which they are entitled as a matter of law. We disagree.

A party’s failure to make a timely demand for a jury trial does not mean the opposing party acquires a right to have, as a matter of law, a non-jury trial. A ruling on a Rule 39(b) motion is within the discretion of the judge and is interlocutory and not directly appealable. See Rowe Furniture Corp. v. Carolina Wholesale Furniture Co.,…