The Los Angeles expedited personal injury trial request

CIV 285, "Expedited PI Court Trial Request Form", revised 04/26, mandatory use. It is the entry point to a voluntary programme that trades one thing for another, and this page is mostly about that trade. This is general information, not legal advice, and nothing here is a recommendation about any case.

What the form says the programme is

In the court's own words on the face of the form: a Voluntary Fast Track Personal Injury Bench Trial Program, designed to address the current waiting time for the hearing of jury trials, which will result in a bench trial no later than 60 days from submission of this form. It is described as a new pilot programme.

The four conditions

1. The jury goes. "By submitting this application, you agree to waive your right to a jury trial — a condition precedent to participating in the program." Not a possibility, not a later decision. It is the price of admission.
2. Trial-ready in 60 days, including experts. Counsel for the parties, and any person representing themselves, represent that they will be prepared to proceed to a court trial in no later than 60 days, including by having previously consulted with all anticipated witnesses and any experts.
3. Trial documents in five days. All trial documents are required to be filed within five days after notification of the final status conference date.
4. Section 170.6 rights survive. The form states that the parties maintain all rights afforded by Code of Civil Procedure section 170.6 — the single peremptory challenge to a judicial officer on grounds of prejudice, one per side.

What the form asks for

Page 1 takes the case caption and then a short set of scheduling facts: the number of parties; the age of the case and its five-year date; the expected length of the court trial; the department where the case is currently assigned; any case-specific issues; and any special considerations for the final status conference or trial setting. Page 2 takes contact details for each participant — name, email, and who they represent — and a signature and date from each. A section at the foot is reserved for the court to enter the assigned courthouse, judge, department, telephone number, and the final status conference and trial dates.

The completed form is signed, dated and returned to Department 1 at SMCDept1@lacourt.org.

The trade, honestly

This is the part worth slowing down for, because the programme is genuinely attractive and the cost of it is easy to underrate.

What you gain is real

A trial date inside two months, in a system where civil trial dates are otherwise measured in years. Delay is not neutral. Witnesses move and forget, treating doctors leave practices, and an injured person carries the case — and often the debt — the whole time. A five-year deadline runs in the background of every California case. Why cases sit for years.

What you give up is also real, and it is not recoverable

A jury and a judge are not two routes to the same answer. They differ in a way that matters most in exactly the part of an injury case that is hardest to prove.

• Twelve people versus one. A jury verdict is the product of twelve strangers deliberating. A bench decision is one experienced professional's judgment. Both are legitimate; they are not interchangeable, and a single decision-maker has no spread.
• Non-economic damages are the exposed part. Medical bills and lost earnings are arithmetic either way. Pain, loss of function and what an injury has taken from someone's life are not — they are a judgment call, and who is making that call is therefore not a detail.
• Familiarity cuts both ways. A judge who has tried many similar cases brings calibration, which can be an advantage where a case is technical and a disadvantage where its force depends on how unusual it feels to someone hearing it for the first time.
• The waiver comes before the assignment. The jury is waived on submitting the form; the department and judge are entered by the court afterwards. The section 170.6 challenge is the counterweight, and it is one challenge, per side, subject to its own timing rules.

This site does not publish case results and does not put a value on any claim, so no number is offered here for how bench and jury outcomes compare — and I would be suspicious of anyone who offers one, because it depends on the case, the injury, the venue and the judge. What can be said plainly is that the difference is not zero, it runs in the part of the case that is most contested, and it is given up permanently in exchange for speed.

The readiness condition is a filter

Sixty days including prior consultation with every anticipated witness and expert is a demanding standard. A case where treatment is still ongoing, or where the medical picture has not settled, is not a case that can honestly make that representation — and settling the medical picture is usually the difference between a claim that is understood and one that is guessed at. How treatment history affects a claim.

Common questions

What does the programme actually offer?

A bench trial no later than 60 days from submission of the form. The court describes it as a pilot designed to address the current waiting time for jury trials.

Can I change my mind about the jury?

The waiver is a condition precedent to participating — it is the price of entry, not something decided later. Treat it as final when the form goes in, and take advice before signing it.

Do I still get to object to the judge?

The form states that parties maintain all rights afforded by Code of Civil Procedure section 170.6, which is the one peremptory challenge to a judge on grounds of prejudice. That is a meaningful protection, and it is not the same as choosing your judge.

What does "trial-ready in 60 days" require?

The form asks counsel and self-represented parties to represent that they will be prepared to proceed to a court trial in no later than 60 days, including by having previously consulted with all anticipated witnesses and any experts. Trial documents are due within five days after notification of the final status conference date.

Sources: CIV 285, Expedited PI Court Trial Request Form, Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles, revised 04/26, mandatory use — the programme description, the four conditions and the requested fields are quoted and paraphrased from the face of the form. Designation, revision date and mandatory status confirmed against the court's public access civil forms list. Code Civ. Proc., § 170.6 (peremptory challenge for prejudice; no more than one motion per side; amended Stats. 2010, ch. 131, § 1 (AB 1894)). All retrieved 1 September 2026.