9th Circuit Writ Relief

Getting writ relief from the Ninth Circuit is exceedingly difficult. Most writ petitions crash and burn on the Bauman factors. But see today's opinion in In Re County of Orange, which finds that extraordinary mandamus relief is appropriate -- regardless of the Bauman factors -- in the context of the denial of the right to a jury trial. [4/17 update: see today's Recorder for Ninth Circuit Frowns on Jury Trial Waivers as well as articles in today's DJ and Law360.]

Thus where, as here, the mandamus petition alleges the erroneous deprivation of a jury trial, the Bauman factors are inapplicable and “the only question presented . . . is whether the district court erred in denying petitioner’s request for a jury trial.” Mondor, 910 F.2d at 586. Furthermore, we may issue the writ even if “the petitioner is unable to show a ‘clear and indisputable’ right” to it. Wilmington Trust, 934 F.2d at 1028. 

File under: Things you don't see every day...

So much for Left Coast anomalies. Out on the Right Coast over at SCOTUS, click  here for a guide to the record-breaking 139 amicus briefs filed in the same-sex marriage cases.