Section 45-1561

Citation: Section 45-1561
Parent Document: Habib v. Thurston, 517 A.2d 1 (1986)
Jurisdiction: DC (municipal)
Effective Date: 1986-10-30
Original Source: https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/1995493/habib-v-thurston/ ↗

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A bench trial of the possessory action presents a different problem. Judge Schwelb, confronted by a demand for a jury at a McNeal hearing after a bench trial of a nonpayment case in the Landlord and Tenant Branch, ruled that the Seventh Amendment did not entitle the tenant to a jury. Management Partnership, Inc. v. Garris, 109 Daily Wash.L.Rptr. 789, 793-94 (D.C.Super.Ct. Mar. 17, 1981). He reasoned that the McNeal hearing, as an interim equitable proceeding, was not an adjudication of the rent due for the litigation period, especially because the payments under the protective order in that case were less than the monthly rent. Id. at 794. Indeed, Judge Schwelb concluded that "a McNeal hearing does not bring about an adjudication" at all, since "[n]o judgment is sought or entered upon the records of the Superior Court reflecting its outcome." Id. The McNeal hearing, therefore, is an "interim disposition," he wrote, and thus the parties are free to bring separate actions to resolve the back rent issue de novo. Id. Implicit in that ruling, of course, was an assumption that a McNeal hearing has no legally preclusive effect.

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