Motion for Summary Judgment California
Motions for summary judgment in California are requests that a court rules on a case even if the case hasn’t been to trial. The benefit of Summary Judgments is that they save clients a ton of money, especially in civil litigation outside of family law cases. In the family law arena in California, their usage is fairly restricted to parentage cases where one party disputes which father belongs to the child. In these cases, a motion for summary judgement is brought to have the court order or “declare” that the father is, indeed, the father. This usually occur after a DNA test of both the child and the father. These motions are rarely contested; however, it does happen on occasion.
Usually, if DNA is disputed by the mother, she has to get someone else declared the father. If the father is disputing the DNA, he probably has something mentally wrong with him or a serious need to try to avoid child support at all costs. The opportunity to lodge a motion arises when there is “no genuine issue of material fact.” What this means is that there is no real basis for the parties to disagree on what the facts in the case are. In civil litigation cases, this isn’t always true, which means that one party does dispute the facts.
When that happens, the moving party usually tries to claim that the fact that the responding party is disputing isn’t “material.” Once the triggering point is met, then the moving party is entitled to “judgment as a matter of law.” Which usually means that they should win. Moving back to family law cases, we would see such motions when paternity has been established, and we want the court to order Mr. X is the father. Outside of those limited circumstances, motions for summary judgments are fairly rare in family law cases.
A motion for summary judgment in California
A case can be disposed of prior to trial when there is no evidence for the claims alleged or when there is no issue of material fact, and the movant is entitled to judgement as a matter of law. When a case is disposed for either of those reasons, it is called a summary judgment. Governed by the California Code of Civil Procedure, there are two types, the traditional summary judgment and the no evidence summary judgment.
How to structure a motion for summary judgment
Rule 437 concerns motion and proceedings thereon. A party may move for summary judgment in an action or proceeding if it is contended that the action has no merit or that there is no defense to the action or proceeding. The motion may be made at any time after 60 days have elapsed since the general appearance in the action or proceeding of each party against whom the motion is directed or at any earlier time after the general appearance that the court, with or without notice and upon good cause shown, may direct.
Furthermore, a notice of the motion and supporting papers shall be served on all other parties to the action at least 75 days before the time appointed for hearing. If the notice is served by mail, the required 75-day period of notice shall be increased by 5 days if the place of address is within the State of California, 10 days if the place of address is outside the State of California but within the United States, and 20 days if the place of address is outside the United States. If the notice is served by facsimile transmission, express mail, or another method of delivery providing for overnight delivery, the required 75-day period of notice shall be increased by two court days.
The motion of summary judgment
Since a motion for summary judgment is essentially a trial on paper, what is written and how it is written is crucial to its success. Summary judgments are more likely to win if they tell a compelling, persuasive story and include a clear analysis of the facts supporting that story.
In addition to good, evidence-based story-telling, the summary judgment motion should also include a succinct title and introduction, which should address whether or not the party is filing a Traditional Summary Judgment as a plaintiff or as a defendant; what kind of summary judgment is requested, traditional, no evidence, or a combination of both; and whether the party is seeking a partial or final summary judgment.
The title and introduction should be followed by the legal and factual grounds for each claim in the case. The motion must also include arguments and authorities to support each claim. Finally, sufficient evidence to support each claim is essential to the success of the summary judgment.
ADVANTAGES OF A MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT IN CALIFORNIA
The advantage of filing a motion for summary judgment in California is that if the moving party can provide enough specific facts and evidence to convince the Court that there are no triable issues of material fact. This way, they can win their motion for summary judgment and avoid the delay and expense of having to proceed to trial.
California law states that if there are no triable issues of material facts the Court must grant the motion as Code of Civil Procedure section 437c(c) states in pertinent part that, “The motion for summary judgment shall be granted if all the papers submitted show that there is no triable issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law.”
No-evidence motion for summary judgments in California
A motion for summary judgment is an invaluable tool for quickly and summarily disposing of cases that have no fact issues for a jury to resolve. In California state court, there are two types of motions for summary judgment: (1) a traditional motion for summary judgment, and (2) a no-evidence motion for summary judgment. A traditional motion argues that the non-movant cannot recover on a claim as a matter of law. A no-evidence motion for summary judgment argues that the non-movant has “no evidence” to support one or more of the elements of a claim.
A no-evidence motion for summary judgment is a particularly cost-effective tool for litigants. The movant generally only needs to challenge specific elements of a claim and state that the non-movant has no evidence of these elements. No-evidence motions are typically shorter, and therefore more cost-effective to prepare, than traditional motions because they do not typically require extensive legal analysis.
However, determining whether a no-evidence motion is appropriate for a particular case is not necessarily straightforward. There is currently a split in California’s fourteen appellate courts on whether a party may move for a no-evidence summary judgment on questions of law. There are also many recognized permutations on the extent to which a litigant may move on elements that involve questions of law. Knowing where courts stand on this issue is important for determining whether a no-evidence motion is appropriate for any particular case.
Courts have generally fallen into two categories on whether no-evidence motions may raise issues of law. The first group holds, as a bright-line rule, that no-evidence motions may never raise questions of law for a court to resolve. The second group essentially rejects the first group’s bright-line rule—those questions of law can never be properly addressed in a no-evidence motion for summary judgment—but does not necessarily have a uniform rule or bright-line rule of its own. Rather, the second group approaches the issue on a more case-by-case analysis.
Requirements for a motion for summary judgment in California
California law does impose several strict requirements that must be met in filing a motion for summary judgment. The party moving for summary judgment must wait until at least 60 days have passed since the general appearance of the party or parties against whom the motion is directed unless the Court orders otherwise pursuant to Code of Civil Procedure section § 437c(a)(1).
The party filing a motion for summary judgment must give a minimum of 75 calendar days’ notice of the hearing on the motion for summary judgment. California law does not specify any statutory procedure for shortening the notice period for a motion for summary judgment. A motion for summary judgment in California must also be heard no later than 30 days before the date of the trial unless the court orders otherwise.
Code of Civil Procedure § 437c(a)(2) states that, “Notice of the motion and supporting papers shall be served on all other parties to the action at least 75 days before the time appointed for hearing. If the notice is served by mail, the required 75-day period of notice shall be increased by 5 days if the place of address is within the State of California, 10 days if the place of address is outside the State of California but within the United States, and 20 days if the place of address is outside the United States. If the notice is served by facsimile transmission, express mail, or another method of delivery providing for overnight delivery, the required 75-day period of notice shall be increased by two court days.”
Code of Civil Procedure § 437c(a)(3) states that, “The motion shall be heard no later than 30 days before the date of trial, unless the court for good cause orders otherwise. The filing of the motion shall not extend the time within which a party must otherwise file a responsive pleading.”
Another important requirement on a motion for summary judgment in California is that the moving party must include what is known as a separate statement of undisputed material facts which lists all material facts that they contend are undisputed. The separate statement must also include a reference to the supporting evidence for each individual material fact.
A motion for summary judgment can be supported by affidavits or declarations, admissions, responses to interrogatories and deposition transcripts.
When to seek early motion for summary judgment
A motion for summary judgment may be sought before discovery is complete. However, this effort may be counterproductive as courts can be reluctant to rule on such a motion before everything has been addressed through the discovery process.
If evidence is found after a summary judgment motion has been granted, the evidence, depending on its relevance and application, could be used to set aside the grant of summary judgment. If the new evidence is material to the case and could not have been produced earlier, a motion to set aside a summary judgment may be filed under CA Code of Civil Procedure Section 657. Aguilar v Atlantic Richfield Co. (2001) 25 C4th 826, 858.
Unless ordered otherwise, motions for summary judgment cannot be heard more than 30 days prior to the trial date. CA Code of Civil Procedure Section 437 (a); Robinson v Woods (2008) 168 CA4th 1258, 1268.
Burden of proof for party filing a motion for summary judgment
A plaintiff filing a motion for summary judgment must meet their burden of showing that there is no defense to a cause of action. Further, that they moving party has proved each element required for that cause of action which would entitle them to judgment.
Once the plaintiff has met their burden the defendant must then show that a triable issue of material fact or facts exists as to that cause of action or their defense to that cause of action. The defendant cannot just rely on any allegations in their answer but must detail the specific facts showing that a triable issue of material fact exists as to that cause of action or their defense to that cause of action. Thus, a plaintiff in a case where all of the facts and evidence obtained during discovery clearly shows that a defendant has no defense to their complaint has a very good chance of winning a motion.
A defendant filing a motion must meet their burden of showing that a cause of action has no merit. This is by showing that one or more elements of a cause of action, even if not separately pleaded, cannot be established, or that there is a complete defense to that cause of action. Once the defendant has met their burden the plaintiff must then show that a triable issue of one or more material facts exists as to that cause of action or a defense to that cause of action.
The plaintiff cannot just rely on any allegations in complaint but must detail the specific facts showing that a triable issue of material fact exists as to that cause of action or their defense to that cause of action. This means that a defendant in a case where all of the facts and evidence obtained during discovery clearly shows that the plaintiff has no case against them has a very good chance of winning a motion for summary judgment.
References
https://legalinfo.legislature.ca.gov
https://content.next.westlaw.com
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