Plaintiff Shree Atulya Realty filed a lawsuit against defendant Jorlinar Santos concerning thepurchase of property from defendant located in Newark. The lawsuit was filed in the Chancery Division, General Equity Part, seeking to discharge a mortgage held by the defendant seller and asserted claims against defendant for breach of contract, unjust enrichment, and fraud. When the case reached the trial stage, after being transferred to the Law Division, one of the issues in Shree Atulya Realty v. Santos, 2024 N.J. Super. Unpub. LEXIS 223 (App. Div. Feb. 14, 2024), was whether defendant failed to timely request a jury trial and, as a result, whether this failure constituted a waiver of the right to a trial by jury.
While actions in which the primary relief sought is equitable in nature are to be filed in the Chancery Division (per Rule 4:3-1), if the complaint seeks both legal and equitable relief, potentially the claims for legal relief could be triable by a jury. Filing a lawsuit in the Chancery Division does not preclude a party from seeking the right to a jury trial. See O’Neill v. Vreeland, 6 N.J. 158, 167-68 (1951); Boardwalk Properties v. BPHC Acquisition, 253 N.J. Super. 515, 526 (App. Div. 1991). Whether the right to a jury trial attaches will depend upon whether the action is primarily legal (subject to a jury trial) or equitable (no right to a jury trial). See Wood v. New Jersey Mfrs. Ins., 206 N.J. 562, 575 (2011).
