Editing Summary judgment (section)

===United States===
{{Civil procedure (United States)}}
{{More citations needed|section|date=April 2021}}
In the United States federal courts, summary judgment is governed by Federal Rule {{frcp|56}} of the [[Federal Rules of Civil Procedure]], derived primarily from the three seminal cases concerning summary judgment out of the 1980s. See Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 56; ''[[Celotex Corp. v. Catrett]]'', {{ussc|477|317}}, 322–27 (1986) (clarifying the shifting allocations of burdens of production, persuasion, and proof at summary judgment);
''[[Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc.]]'', {{ussc|477|242}}, 257 (1986) (applying heightened evidentiary standard of proof in libel action 
to judicial assessment of propriety of summary judgment); ''[[Matsushita Elec. Industrial Co. v. Zenith Radio Corp.]]'', {{ussc|475|574}}, 596–98 (1986) (holding antitrust plaintiff with an inherently implausible claim was subject to dismissal at summary judgment).

In [[United States|American]] legal practice, summary judgment can be awarded by the court before trial, effectively holding that no trial will be necessary. At the federal level, a summary-judgment motion in [[United States District Court]] is governed by Rule 56 of the [[Federal rules of civil procedure|Federal Rules of Civil Procedure]]. Other pretrial motions, such as a "motion for judgment on the pleadings" or a "motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim upon which relief may be granted", can be converted by the judge to summary-judgment motions if matters outside the pleadings are presented to{{spaced ndash}}and not excluded by{{spaced ndash}}the trial-court judge.

A [[party (law)|party]] seeking summary judgment (or making any other motion) is called the '''movant''' (usually, this is ''defendant''); the opposing party is the '''nonmovant''' (usually, ''plaintiff''). Per Rule 56(a), issuance of summary judgment can be based only upon the court's finding that, ''both:''

# there exists no disputed, genuine issue of material [[fact (law)|fact]] between the parties requiring a trial to resolve; and
# in applying the law to the (undisputed) facts, one party is clearly entitled by law to judgment.

Here:
* An '''issue of (purported) fact''' is a (potential) event that the factfinder at trial (jury, or judge in the case of a bench trial) is charged with '''crediting''' (determining what "really happened", according to the credibility of the witnesses/experts/etc. at trial).
* A '''disputed''' issue/fact means movant claims one thing, while nonmovant makes a different (conflicting/contradictory) claim.
* A '''genuine''' issue/fact is one that can be resolved in favor by either party, by some rational/reasonable factfinder.
* A '''material''' issue/fact is one that has the potential of affecting the outcome of the case/issue in dispute (judgment in favor of one party over the other).

Of cardinal importance here is that, by design, the judge had no discretion at summary judgment time: all fact-finding is done by the jury at trial, not by the judge at summary judgment (the judge only looks for the existence of disputed facts to be found).

Summary judgment in the United States applies only in civil cases. It does not apply to criminal cases to obtain a pretrial judgment of conviction or acquittal, in part because a criminal defendant has a constitutional right to a jury trial.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Leonetti|first=Carrie|title=When the Emperor Has No Clothes: A Proposal for Defensive Summary Judgment in Criminal Cases|journal=Southern California Law Review|date=Spring 2011|volume=84}}</ref> Some federal and state-court judges publish general guidelines and sample summary judgment forms.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tex-app.org/articles/57986_01.pdf|title=An Overview of Summary Judgment Practice|access-date=2011-09-01|archive-date=2012-03-31|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120331135302/http://www.tex-app.org/articles/57986_01.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cod.uscourts.gov/Documents/Judges/MSK/msk_sj.pdf|title=Sample Motion for Summary Judgment|access-date=2011-09-01|archive-date=2012-01-21|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120121015557/http://www.cod.uscourts.gov/Documents/Judges/MSK/msk_sj.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name=ABA>{{cite web|url=http://meetings.abanet.org/webupload/commupload/YL406000/relatedresources/summaryjudgement.pdf|title=Your First Motion for Summary Judgment from the Court's Perspective|access-date=2011-09-01|archive-date=2012-03-28|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120328181414/http://meetings.abanet.org/webupload/commupload/YL406000/relatedresources/summaryjudgement.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mobar.org/afbe2c90-2785-473e-b155-53f783764c97.aspx|title=How to Write a Motion for Summary Judgment|access-date=2011-09-01|archive-date=2007-05-06|archive-url=https://archive.today/20070506201805/http://www.mobar.org/afbe2c90-2785-473e-b155-53f783764c97.aspx|url-status=dead}}</ref>

According to [[Federal Judicial Center]] research, summary-judgment motions are filed in 17% of federal cases.<ref name="stat">{{cite web|url=http://www.uscourts.gov/sites/default/files/sujulrs2.pdf|title=Report on Summary Judgment Practice}}</ref> 71% of summary-judgment motions were filed by defendants, 26% by plaintiffs.<ref name="stat" /> Out of these, 36% of the motions were denied, and 64% were granted in whole or in part.<ref name="stat" />

[[File:FedStat Court Res1.jpg|right|thumb|upright=2|Civil rights cases concluded in U.S. district courts, by disposition, 1990–2006.<ref name="civ_2">{{cite web|url=http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/content/pub/pdf/crcusdc06.pdf|title=Civil rights cases concluded in U.S. district courts, by disposition, 1990–2006}}</ref>]]
From a tactical perspective, there are two basic types of summary-judgment motions. One requires a ''full'' evidentiary presentation, and the other requires only a more limited, targeted one.

First, a plaintiff may seek summary judgment on any cause of action, and similarly, a defendant may seek summary judgment in its favor on any affirmative defense. But in either case, the moving party must produce evidence in support of ''each and every'' essential element of the claim or defense (as it would have to do at trial). To be successful, this type of summary-judgment motion must be drafted as a written preview of a party's entire case-in-chief (that it would put before the finder of fact at trial) because ''all'' parts of an entire claim or defense are at issue.

Second, a different and very common tactic is where a defendant seeks summary judgment on a plaintiff's cause of action. The key difference is that in this latter situation, the defendant need only attack ''one'' essential element of the plaintiff's claim. A finding that the plaintiff cannot prove ''one'' essential element of its claim necessarily renders all other elements immaterial and results in summary judgment for the defendant. So these motions tend to be precisely targeted to the weakest points of the plaintiff's case. It is also possible for a plaintiff to seek summary judgment on a defendant's [[affirmative defense]], but those types of motions are very rare.

Regardless of the type of summary judgment motion, there is a standardized rule(-like) framework for evaluating the first clause of Rule 56(a) ("no disputed genuine issue of material fact"), formulated as the following six core ''summary judgment tenets of review'' (SJTOR) (where the emphasized must indicate the lack of judicial discretion permitted):

# '''All issues/facts''': All ("each/every", not just "some") factual issues must be considered/discussed—especially, all disputed/contested genuine issues of material facts.
# '''Whole record''': The entire record ("whole set/totality of circumstances", not just a "subset"), must be considered, regarding each/every issue.
# '''In context''': All issues must be considered in holistic relationship with one another, within the whole-record environment (not context-free line-by-line isolation); patterns may emerge.
# '''Nonmovant trumps movant''': Tenets 1–3 must be interpreted/construed in the light most favorable/advantageous to nonmovant (never to movant), and belief/credit awarded thereto (as to whether a dispute exists, not as to who wins the dispute, though either interpretation unambiguously satisfies the only question at summary judgment, which is whether or not a dispute exists).
# '''All inferences''': All reasonable/justifiable logical/legal inferences/implications from tenets 1–3 must also be interpreted favorably to nonmovant, and credit awarded thereto.<ref>''Scott v. Harris'', 550 U.S. 372 (2007).</ref><ref>Wolff, T. B. (n.d.). [https://scholars.law.unlv.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1639&amp;context=nlj "Scott v. Harris and the Future of Summary Judgment"]. ''Nevada Law Journal'', Vol. 15:1351, pp. 1351–1386.</ref>
# '''Light burden''': For tenets 4–5, nonmovant bears the undemanding requirement of production only of favorable facts (and law)—i.e., ''de minimis'' proof/persuasion (that a rational/reasonable jury could find for nonmovant). All fact/credibility-finding must be reserved for the jury at trial, none for the judge at summary judgment.

A party seeking summary judgment may refer to any evidence that would be admissible at trial, such as [[deposition (law)|depositions]] (or deposition excerpts), party admissions, [[affidavit]]s in support from [[witness]]es, documents received during [[discovery (law)|discovery]] (such as [[contract]]s, [[e-mail|emails]], [[Letter (message)|letters]], and certified government documents). The pieces of evidence should be accompanied by a declaration from the moving party that all copies of the documents are true and correct, including deposition excerpts. Each party may present to the court its view of applicable law by submitting a [[memorandum of law|legal memorandum]] supporting, or opposing, the motion. The opposing party may also file its own summary-judgment motion (called a ''cross-motion''), if the deadline still allows. The court may allow for [[oral argument]] of the [[lawyer]]s, generally where the judge wishes to question the lawyers on issues in the case.

Deadline for filing of the [[dispositive motion]]s in [[United States federal courts|U.S. federal court system]] is set by judge in the initial [[Initial conference (law)#Discovery plan|discovery plan]] order. If a party wants to file a motion or a cross-motion for summary judgment after the deadline, it needs to ask for leave of court. Normally, federal judges require valid reasons to alter case-management deadlines and only do so with reluctance.

There are also freely accessible [[web search engine]]s to assist parties in finding court decisions that can be cited as an example or analogy to resolve similar questions of law.<ref name="goog_sch">{{cite web|url=https://scholar.google.com/advanced_scholar_search|title=Google Scholar}}</ref> [[Google Scholar]] is the biggest database of full-text state and federal court decisions that can be accessed without charge.<ref name="goog_sch" /><ref>{{cite web|url=http://dlib.org/dlib/september05/bauer/09bauer.html|title=An Examination of Citation Counts in a New Scholarly Communication Environment}}</ref> These [[web search engine]]s often allow one to select specific state courts to search.<ref name="goog_sch" />
Summary judgment is awarded if the undisputed facts and the law make it clear that it would be impossible for one party to prevail if the matter were to proceed to trial. The court must consider all designated evidence in the light most favorable to the party opposing the summary judgment motion.

If a trial could result in the jury (or judge in a [[bench trial]]) deciding in favor of the party opposing the motion, then summary judgment is inappropriate. A decision granting summary judgment can be appealed without delay. A decision denying summary judgment ordinarily cannot be immediately appealed; instead, the case continues on its normal course. In [[United States federal courts]], a denial of summary judgment cannot be appealed until final resolution of the whole case, because of the requirements of {{UnitedStatesCode|28|1291}} and {{UnitedStatesCode|28|1292}} (the final judgment rule).

To defeat a summary-judgment motion, the non-moving party only has to show substantial evidence that a dispute of material facts exists, regardless of the strength of that evidence. For example, even if the moving side can produce the testimony of "a dozen bishops",{{cite this quote|date=July 2022}} and the non-moving side only has the testimony of a known liar, then summary judgment is not appropriate. Deciding on the relative credibility of witnesses is a question for the factfinder at trial.

Where appropriate, a court may award judgment summarily upon fewer than all claims. This is known as ''partial summary judgment''.

====Reviews of summary judgments====
It is not uncommon for summary judgments of the lower U.S. courts in complex cases to be overturned on appeal. A grant of summary judgment is reviewed ''[[trial de novo|de novo]]'',<ref>US Court of Appeals, 8th Circuit, [https://www.casemine.com/judgement/us/591473caadd7b04934395fbd Johnson v Ready Mixed Concrete Co.], 424 F.3d 806, delivered 26 September 2005, accessed 30 December 2023</ref> meaning, without deference to the views of the trial judge, both as to the determination that there is no remaining genuine issue of material fact and that the prevailing party was entitled to judgment as a matter of law.

====State-court practice====
Summary judgment practice in [[State court (United States)|state courts]] in
most [[U.S. states]] is similar to federal practice, though with minor differences. For example, the U.S. state of [[California]] requires the moving party to actually present evidence rather than merely refer to evidence.<ref name="Aguilar">See ''Aguilar v. Atlantic Richfield Co.'', [http://online.ceb.com/calcases/C4/25C4t826.htm 25 Cal. 4th 826] (2001).</ref> This is done by attaching relevant documents and by summarizing all relevant factual points within those documents in a separate statement of facts.<ref name="Aguilar" /> In turn, the record to be reviewed by the judge can be very large; for example, the landmark ''Aguilar'' case involved a record of about 18,400 pages.<ref name="Aguilar" /> Also, California uses the term "summary adjudication" instead of "partial summary judgment". The California view is that the latter term is an [[oxymoron]] since a judgment is defined by [[California Code of Civil Procedure]] Section 577 as the "final determination of the rights of the parties"<ref>[https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=CCP&sectionNum=577. California Code of Civil Procedure Section 577].</ref> and a "partial summary judgment" is not actually final since it necessarily leaves some issues to be decided at trial. There is currently a conflict between the different districts of the California Courts of Appeal as to the availability of summary adjudication; most superior courts tend to side with the narrowest interpretation of California Code of Civil Procedure section 437c, under which a party may make such a motion only with respect to an entire cause of action, an affirmative defense, or a punitive-damages claim. There is also language in section 437c about "issues of duty", but some Court of Appeal panels have given that phrase an extremely narrow interpretation due to evidence that the [[California State Legislature]] has been trying to stop the state courts from engaging in the piecemeal adjudication of individual issues.

In New York, there is the procedure of summary judgment in lieu of complaint CPLR § 3213. This allows a plaintiff in an action based on an instrument to pay money only or a judgment to file a motion for summary judgment and supporting papers with the summons instead of a complaint. The motion must be noted to be heard on the date the defendant is required to appear under CPLR 320(a). If the plaintiff sets down the hearing date later than the minimum, he may require the defendant to serve a copy of the answering paper on him within the extended period. If the motion is denied the moving and answering papers shall be deemed the complaint and answer, respectively, unless the court orders otherwise.

====Filing and privacy====
{{See also|Motion (legal)#Motion for summary judgment}} 
Many [[U.S. district courts]] have developed their own requirements included in local rules for filing summary-judgment motions.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.uscourts.gov/RulesAndPolicies/FederalRulemaking/LocalCourtRules.aspx|title=Local Court Rules|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100522042618/http://www.uscourts.gov/RulesAndPolicies/FederalRulemaking/LocalCourtRules.aspx|archive-date=2010-05-22}}</ref> Local rules can set limits on the number of pages, explain if a separate factual statement is required, whether it is acceptable to combine motion petition with a response, and if a judge needs an additional copy of the documents (called a judge's copy), etc.<ref name="indiana" /><ref name="Oklahoma" /> Local rules can define page-layout elements like [[Margin (typography)|margins]], text [[font|font/size]], distance between lines, mandatory footer text, [[Pagination|page numbering]], and provide directions on how the pages need to be bound together – i.e., acceptable [[Staple (fastener)|fasteners]], number and location of [[Hole punch|fastening holes]], etc.<ref name="indiana">{{cite web|url=http://www.insd.uscourts.gov/publications/localrules.pdf|title=Local Rules of U.S. District Court, District of Indiana|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110928042133/http://www.insd.uscourts.gov/publications/localrules.pdf|archive-date=2011-09-28}}</ref><ref name="Oklahoma">{{cite web|url=http://www.oknd.uscourts.gov/legal/generalo.nsf/0A0713F3B13A3660862570360013F310/$file/civil%20local%20rules.pdf|title=Local Rules of U.S. District Court, District of Oklahoma}}</ref><ref name="oregon">{{cite web |url= http://ord.uscourts.gov/local-rules-of-civil-procedure/lr-10-form-of-pleadings-and-other-documents |title= Local Rules of U.S. District Court, District of Oregon |url-status= dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20100527104338/http://www.ord.uscourts.gov/local-rules-of-civil-procedure/lr-10-form-of-pleadings-and-other-documents |archive-date= 2010-05-27 }}</ref> If the filed motion does not comply with the local rules, then the judge can choose to [[Motion to strike (court of law)|strike]] the motion completely, or order the party to re-file its motion, or grant a special exception to the local rules.
 
Summary-judgment motions, like many other court filings, are a matter of public record. So under [[Federal Rules of Civil Procedure]] 5.2, sensitive text like [[Social Security number]], [[Taxpayer Identification Number]], [[birthday]], bank accounts and [[Minor (law)|children]]'s names, should be [[Sanitization (classified information)|redacted]] from the summary-judgment motion and accompanying exhibits.<ref name=frcp5>{{cite web|url=https://www.law.cornell.edu/rules/frcp/Rule5_2.htm|title=Federal Rules of Civil Procedure}}</ref> The redacted text can be erased with black-out or white-out, and the page should have an indication that it was redacted – most often by [[Rubber stamp|stamping]] the word "redacted" on the bottom. Alternately, the filing party may ask the court's permission to file some exhibits completely [[Under seal (Law)|under seal]]. A [[Minor (law)|minor]]'s name of the petitions should be replaced with initials.<ref name=frcp5 />

However, certain types of filings containing information that would otherwise be redacted are excepted from redaction.<ref>Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, Rule 5.2(b) et seq.</ref> Additionally, the local rules may require parties seeking to seal documents to first file a motion to seal and obtain leave of the court prior to filing the sealed documents.<ref>e.g. [https://www.ndd.uscourts.gov/ecf/cm_ecf_GuideToFilingSealedDocuments.pdf Local Rules, U.S. District Court, District of North Dakota]</ref> 
 
A person making a redacted filing can file an unredacted copy [[Under seal (Law)|under seal]], or the court can choose to order later that an additional filing be made under seal without redaction.<ref name=frcp5 /> Copies of both redacted and unredacted documents filed with the court should be provided to the other [[Party (law)|parties in the case]].

====Criminal law counterpart====
In the United States, the criminal law counterpart to summary judgment is the motion to dismiss.<ref>Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure 12(b)(3)(B)(v)</ref><ref>Francisco, N. J., Burnham, J., & Day, J. (July 20, 2016). [https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=ca9cf5bc-a463-4bbc-bcc7-862f855280dc "The Criminal Analogue to 12(b)(6): Judicial Power to Dismiss Indictments"]. ''Lexology''.</ref>