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Civil Litigation -
Law and Motion
Northern California Civil Litigation Information
Between the beginning of the lawsuit and trial, your attorney may
have to file or oppose motions to the court. It is possible your lawsuit will
not involve any interim motions. Typical motions are motions related to
discovery and motions for "summary judgment."
A motion to compel is a motion brought by a party who is
dissatisfied with another party's response (or failure to respond) to a
discovery request in an effort to get more information or documents.
A motion for summary judgment can also be brought by either
party, but is usually brought by the defendant in an attempt to get the judge
to dismiss the case before it goes to trial. In order to prevail on a motion
for summary judgment, the moving party must demonstrate by reference to
admissible evidence that the material facts of the case are undisputed, and
that based on those undisputed facts and the applicable law, the moving party
is entitled to judgment in his favor. A motion for summary judgment is defeated
by either: (1) demonstrating that there is a dispute concerning one or more of
the material facts (thus requiring a jury to resolve the factual dispute at
trial), or (2) demonstrating that the applicable law does not support a
judgment in favor of the moving party.
If a defendant's motion for summary judgment is granted, the
entire case is dismissed. If it is denied, the case will go to trial unless it
settles. There is also a motion for summary adjudication which is like a
motion for summary judgment except that it results in dismissal of specific
claims, not the entire lawsuit.
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If you wish to hire an attorney to assist
you with a civil litigation issue in Northern California , please call (530)
889-1912 to discuss your case and set up a FREE initial consultation.
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Mackenroth & Laird LLP
134 Almond
Street
Auburn, California 95603
(530) 889-1912
Fax: (530)
889-1962
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