(a) Right Preserved. The right of trial by jury is preserved to the parties inviolate. On any issue triable of right by a jury, a party need not file a written demand or take any other action in order to preserve its right to trial by jury.

(b) Waiver. The parties may be deemed to have waived, under these rules, a right to trial by jury only if they affirmatively waive that right by filing a written stipulation, signed by all parties who appear at trial, at any time after the action is commenced, but no later than 30 days before the trial is scheduled to begin. The stipulation may not be combined with any other motion or pleading. In the stipulation, the parties may specify any issues that they wish to have tried by a jury; otherwise, the parties will be deemed to have waived trial by a jury on all issues. Alternatively--with court approval and subject to such conditions that the court considers proper, including but not limited to the assessment of jury fees--all parties who appear at trial may waive the right to a jury trial later than 30 days before the trial is scheduled to begin either by written stipulation or oral stipulation in open court and entered in the minutes.