A summary judgment motion is filed with the court. It could let a defendant get released from the need to compensate the plaintiff in a personal injury case.

What is a motion?

It is a request for a ruling on a specific matter. A motion for summary judgment gets made before a case goes to trial. Both the defendant and the plaintiff have the option of making such an action/motion. Regardless of which party takes such an action, the same party must present a specific proof. That proof needs to show that all the facts in the case are undisputed.

How can one side fight any of the motions for summary judgment that might be made by the opposing side?

The side that does not believe that all the facts are undisputed must show evidence that supports that particular belief. Normally, that involves showing that more evidence must be presented. What would be some examples of outstanding evidence? One example would be a key witness that has not yet been deposed.

If the opposing side does not respond to the motion, or does not make a sufficiently strong argument against it, then what was requested gets granted. In other words, the court would declare that all the facts are undisputed. That declaration would indicate the absence of any reason for having a trial.

The judge hears from representatives for both sides.

The defendant’s lawyer represents the moving party, and that same Personal Injury Lawyer in Ottawa has the right to refute the argument that was made by the opposition. The opposing lawyers focus their arguments on the facts, and what remains to be verified, regarding specific facts. If any fact related to an issue that pertains to the plaintiff’s case appears unverified and disputed, then the moving party learns that its request has been denied. Hence, the trial gets scheduled, as anticipated.

What accounts for the summary judgment’s significance? If the request made by the moving party were granted, then the legal system would end the process for pursuing the issues that were raised by the accident victim’s claim. In other words, the plaintiff would no longer have a valid case, in the eyes of the court.

The court sets a deadline for filing a claim, in order to ensure the preservation of any valuable evidence. Before a trial, the court gives the defendant the chance to suggest that all the existing evidence has been examined, so that the facts are no longer in dispute. The judge agrees to hear the defendant’s argument, but that does not guarantee the judge’s willing acceptance. So, a request that has been made to a judge does not always signal the inevitable granting of that same request.