Smith v. Williams

MATHERNE, Judge.

In this condemnation lawsuit the determinative issues on appeal are whether the trial judge can of his own motion in a civil law case impanel a jury to try the issues and whether a jury so impaneled is an “advisory jury.”

By plea filed on April 17, 1974, the defendants demanded a jury to hear this lawsuit. Thereafter the parties presented to the trial court an agreed order wherein all parties waived a jury trial and agreed that the lawsuit would be tried before the judge without a jury. The trial judge refused to sign the order and impaneled a jury to hear the issues.

The record…