What Is A Bench Trial In A Civil Case

Clear answers for common questions.
What is a bench trial in a civil case. What is a bench trial. Among the first of such videoconference trials was a one day civil bench trial conducted by judge beau miller a state court judge in the 190th district court in harris county texas on wednesday april 22nd. Many civil cases are tried.
Civil trial one of the parties must request a jury trial and pay a small fee otherwise a bench trial will result. In various courts across the country judges have been beginning to conduct civil bench trials over videoconference platforms such as zoom. For instance a party may raise a creative argument in hopes of obtaining an order granting a motion to dismiss or motion for judgment on the pleadings.
A jury trial is a trial before a jury of 6 or 12 people who after hearing the evidence and legal arguments decide whether the defendant is guilty or not guilty of the charges against him. A bench trial is a trial held before a judge sitting without a jury. A bench trial is a trial by judge as opposed to a trial by jury.
With bench trials the judge plays the role of the jury as finder of fact in addition to making conclusions of law. In a criminal proceeding in state court a defendant may face a jury trial or a bench trial. A bench trial is a legal proceeding in which a case is tried in front of a judge rather than by a jury.
In a bench trial there is ample opportunity to present the court with arguments throughout the pretrial proceedings.