A ruling that decides a case, or part of one, without a trial because the essential facts are not genuinely in dispute.
Summary judgment is a request that the court decide a case, or specific issues in it, without holding a trial. The argument is not that the moving side has the better case - it is that there is nothing for a jury to resolve, because on the evidence gathered in discovery the material facts are not genuinely disputed and the law produces only one answer.
It usually comes after discovery, since it depends on the evidentiary record rather than on the allegations. In deciding it, the court does not weigh credibility or choose between competing accounts; genuine conflicts in the evidence are exactly what defeats the motion and sends the case onward.
Partial summary judgment is common and often more consequential than it sounds: narrowing which claims or defences survive reshapes what a trial would be about, and frequently reshapes settlement discussions with it.
The deadlines and evidentiary requirements are strict and unforgiving - a response typically has to be supported by admissible evidence rather than by argument. This is not a stage at which self-representation tends to go well.
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