City of Redondo Beach v. Kumnick

The City of Redondo Beach filed an action in eminent domain involving property owned by defendant Guarino, appellant herein; while other answering defendants were represented by counsel, Guarino appeared in propria persona. On November 28, 1961, counsel for defendant Kumnick, the city attorney, and defendant Guarino demanded a trial by jury (joint pretrial statement, p. 2[1] • pretrial conference order, p. 2), and accordingly the cause was set for a jury trial on January 22, 1962 (notice of trial). On that day Guarino appeared; after the case was called for trial, the following colloquy took…