According to 2-1105 of the Illinios Code, the jury demand is due at the same time a defendant's answer is due. 735 ILCS 5/2-1105(a) (2000). But what happens when the Defendant requests and receives additional time to file an answer? Does this also extend the deadline for filing a jury demand?
That was the issue in a recent Illinois appellate case in which the trial court ruled that the jury demand was untimely even though it was made within the extended deadline the court had given the defendant to answer. See Laba v. Kahay, No. 1-01-3101 (1st Dist. May 4, 2004).
Where the trial court extended the time for filing an answer, the request for filing a jury demand could not be untimely. Because the controlling date for defendant's jury demand was the date of the answer, we find that the trial court improperly denied as untimely defendant's request for leave to file a jury demand.
Despite this ruling, the better practice is to file the jury demand within the original deadline for filing the answer.
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