A party may have an action, or part of an action, decided by way
of summary judgment motion if there is no genuine issue for trial.
Last but not least, employers should anticipate that employees will increasingly
bring summary judgment motions to resolve bonus entitlement issues that are not agreed to at termination.
However, the court granted the superintendent's and deputy superintendent's
summary judgment motion for this claim because individuals are not liable under Title VII.
The case presented the court with the opportunity to discuss how lower courts should handle
summary judgment motions filed by the defendant when conflicting facts exists.
In previous posts I have discussed the fact that litigants in some jurisdictions can actually obtain trial dates sooner than they can obtain
summary judgment motion dates.
The use of
summary judgment motions now means that many wrongful dismissal actions are being decided prior to the conclusion of the notice period awarded to the plaintiff.
As discussed below, the numbers show that roughly 50 % of
reported summary judgment motions are successful in 2012, although it really depends on what's at issue on the motion.
The plaintiffs would have not only needed to have overcome these rulings but were faced with hard -
hitting summary judgment motions that could have resulted in dismissal of the entire case.
The purpose
of summary judgment motion is to obtain a just, speedy, and inexpensive resolution by avoiding a trial in cases where there is no genuine factual dispute.
According to Tjaden and Karabus, during Hryniak's first year, judges who
dismissed summary judgment motions at the Ontario Superior Court chose not to remain seized, or failed to address the issue of being seized, in 60 per cent of cases.
On December 30, 2013, Judge Scheindlin from the Southern District of New York
granted summary judgment motions brought by two defendants in this toxic torts litigation.
The recent Ontario Superior Court of Justice decision in 2337310 Ontario Inc. v. 2264145 Ontario Inc., 2014 ONSC 4370, addressed a
partial summary judgment motion brought by the franchisee of a cafe seeking a declaration that it was entitled to exercise its right of rescission under the Arthur Wishart Act (Franchise Disclosure), 2000 («the Act»).
«They're pushing on an open door because they know there's already a bias here,» says University of Windsor Faculty of Law professor Julie Macfarlane of the growing use of
summary judgment motions by lawyers acting against unrepresented parties.
In its 2014 seminal decision in Hryniak v. Mauldin, the Supreme Court mandated a «culture shift» in endorsing
summary judgment motions as a legitimate way to resolve legal disputes.
Working with Katrina Trask and Erin Chesney, Macfarlane, who's director of the project, compared the results of
summary judgment motions involving self - represented parties in both 2004 and 2014, the year in which the Supreme Court of Canada released its landmark decision in Hryniak v. Mauldin.
In response to (1), the ONCA noted that «this is not
how summary judgment motions work» and held that the motion judge properly considered the evidence, applied the statutory framework, and determined the appropriate equalization payment.
In this role Carrie also coordinates and
drafts summary judgment motions and motions in limine in state and federal court in multiple jurisdictions, and develops and prepares the trial and deposition testimony of expert witnesses and corporate representatives.
2001): Implemented a strategy to place plaintiff in a catch - 22 with a successful claim construction motion to ensure a loss either on infringement or validity that was followed up with
successful summary judgment motion for invalidity; authored appeal brief to obtain affirmance by CAFC.
Judge Land also denied Tyson's
summary judgment motion based on the Portal - to - Portal Act because «there is a genuine issue of material fact as to whether the donning, doffing, and sanitizing activities are «integral and indispensable» to Plaintiffs» principal work activities.»
These successes include obtaining dismissals of class action complaints, defeating class certification,
winning summary judgment motions, prevailing at trial or on appeal, and obtaining highly favorable settlements.
It examines activity for five judges over the past five years, showing the percentage of cases in which each judge granted or
denied summary judgment motions and the average days it takes each judge to decide a case.
Instead of starting from scratch, the parties would use affidavits filed in a
failed summary judgment motion as their examination - in - chief and the transcripts filed in the motion would serve as discovery materials, said Brown.
Hryniak strongly
endorses summary judgment motions, encourages frequent recourse to both the Rule 20.04 (2.1) powers and ability of the motion judge to order oral evidence at these motions, and relies heavily on a consideration of whether the motion judge has «confidence» in his or her ability to «find the necessary facts and resolve the dispute» in a summary manner.
[2] Increasingly, there is recognition that a culture shift is required in order to create an environment promoting timely and affordable access to the civil justice system... [3]
Summary judgment motions provide one such opportunity...
However, while writing his reasons, the motion judge decided to resolve the motions on a fifth basis: he would grant a notional cross-motion by the respondents for partial summary judgment of their claim for breach of fiduciary duty and order a trial or
additional summary judgment motions to prove victimization, harm and causation of harm, and to quantify the individual respondents» damages, if any.
Certainly, motor vehicle accidents continue to happen, but foisting onto motion judges the responsibility to
determine summary judgment motions on the basis of assessing credibility on affidavit evidence, rather than viva voce testimony, does little to instill confidence in the minds of litigants that they have had their «day in court».
In April, Silver cast was one of three members to vote against a bill that dealt with «the admissibility of expert affidavits in
civil summary judgment motions.»
Words Count: The Empirical Relationship Between Brief Writing and Summary Judgment Success Shaun B. Spencer * and Adam Feldman
** Summary judgment motions are critical tools for lawyers trying to resolve cases.
Apple's winning streak continues for now: after (finally) obtaining a preliminary injunction against the Galaxy Tab 10.1 and winning by a wide margin a battle over a long list of expert reports, Apple has just been cleared of infringement of one of the three Samsung patents it was attacking in its very
focused summary judgment motions.
Time will tell, on both fronts, but in the meantime it is safe to say that the Supreme Court decision will
change summary judgment motions not only in a substantive, but also in a procedural, manner.