Judge Ponders if Complaining Funtown RV Customer Really Surrendered Her Constitutional Right

SAN ANGELO, TX — A Tom Green County district judge will decide whether a dissatisfied customer of a local RV dealership signed away her rights to a jury trial. The plaintiff in the case, Midland resident Kara Stephan, is suing Funtown RV, 3560 US 67 North in San Angelo, and the fifth-wheel’s manufacturer, Forest River, for selling her a “hopelessly flawed product.”

At issue in the case currently is whether or not Stephan agreed to waive her rights to a trial by jury when she signed a two-page purchase agreement with Funtown RV. In the printed agreement, page 2, the fourth statement she signed her name to reads:

TRIAL BY COURT The Buyer Hereby unconditionally waives all rights to a jury trial of any claim or cause of action based upon or arising out of directly or indirectly, this purchase agreement. In the event of litigation rather than Arbitration, this purchase agreement may be filed as a written consent to a trail by court without a jury.

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Lawyers for Funtown RV et. al. do not want to have a jury trial; the plaintiffs have requested one. The Funtown RV side made a motion to quash, or do away with, the jury trial request. If there is no jury, a lone district judge hears the case and rules on who wins.

Judge Ben Woodward heard arguments from both sides July 31 at the Tom Green County Courthouse. Arguing for Funtown RV, Houston attorney Craig Dillard said that Texas courts historically enforce jury waivers. Using the two-page purchase agreement Stephan signed as his only exhibit, Dillard said it is clear that she signed the agreement, and initialed the second page. “There is more that sufficient evidence that proves the plaintiff agreed to a jury waiver,” he said.

Dillard also noted that the plaintiff argued in the initial lawsuit petition that she intended to use the fifth-wheel trailer as her primary residence. “For someone making an agreement to purchase their home, their primary residence, they’d read this agreement carefully,” he suggested. And, unlike lengthy mortgage agreements, this purchase contract is only two pages long and the back has only 14 provisions, he argued.

Dillard also argued that Funtown RV’’s signed purchase agreement should apply to the manufacturer as well, as Stephan is suing both Funtown RV and Forest River.

For the plaintiff, Houston attorney W. Perry Zively, Jr. teleconferenced into the courtroom to make his arguments. He argued that the burden was on the defendants to prove the jury trial waiver was conspicuous enough for the buyer (Stephan) to understand or comprehend. “There is absolutely no change in font size or highlighting of the jury waiver provision,” he said.

Zively said precedent would support his position.

Further, Zively asked that, should the judge rule to quash his client’s request for a jury trial, the ruling only be applicable to the case against Funtown RV, not the manufacturer. The purchase agreement, Zively said, was between his client and Funtown RV, not Forest River.

As the plaintiff’s argument concluded over the speakerphone, co-attorney Guy Choate, speaking for the plaintiff inside the courtroom, asked to address the judge.

His request was granted and Choate stressed that his client’s 7th Amendment rights are “substantial” as they are for all Americans. The 7th Amendment, part of the Bill of Rights, guarantees all Americans that “the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise re-examined in any Court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law,” it reads.

Choate’s closing statement was a question. Did the purchase agreement really highlight to his client that she was giving up a Constitutional right? “The item’s headline on the purchase agreement is ‘trial by court.’ Did she really understand that meant she waived the right to a jury trial?” Choate asked.

Judge Ben Woodward said he would issue a ruling in the near future.

Stephan sued Funtown RV and Forest River Recreational Vehicle Company in May after she said the fifth-wheel RV she purchased had over 70 defects that the warranty work did not fix. She claimed in her lawsuit she was sold a “hopelessly flawed product.” More on the lawsuit here. https://sanangelolive.com/news/busi…