California Scents v. Surco Products, Inc.

When plaintiff California Scents filed its complaint it did not demand a jury trial. Defendant Pestco answered, filed counterclaims, and did demand a jury trial “as to all counterclaims.” In this appeal we consider whether, under' Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 38, California Scents reasonably relied on Pestco’s jury trial demand “as to all counterclaims” so as to preserve California Scents’s right to a jury trial on the claims pled in its complaint.

We conclude that the district court’s denial of a jury trial on California Scents’s claims was error that caused California Scents to suffer prejudice. We reverse and remand for trial.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

I. The Complaint, Answer, and Summary Judgment

California Scents manufactures air fresheners for the retail market. Its air fresheners are individually packaged “pull top” aluminum cans carrying brightly colored “scratch and sniff’ labels. The labels produce a fragrance that corresponds to the name of the air freshener. The names of California Scents’s air fresheners, for example “Sierra Meadows” and “Pasadena Rose,” are suggestive of various California regions. Pestco manufactures a similar air freshener for the…