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I'm an attorney in NYC. My firm represents a plaintiff and I have to write a motion opposing summary judgment. For obvious reasons, I can't mention the specifics of the case. The only thing I can mention is that it's personal injury. Long story short, the facts weigh in favor of the defendant. How should I write enough bullshit to get the court to deny the motion for summary judgment?

Dude, do you think you can really get an answer to that here?

L_William_W wrote:I'm an attorney in NYC. My firm represents a plaintiff and I have to write a motion opposing summary judgment. For obvious reasons, I can't mention the specifics of the case. The only thing I can mention is that it's personal injury. Long story short, the facts weigh in favor of the defendant. How should I write enough bullshit to get the court to deny the motion for summary judgment?

Find a “fuzzy” fact—something that isn’t clear cut that you can blow up enough to raise a triable issue of fact. Also think about whether there are any technicalities in your favor or misrepresentations in the MSJ.

L_William_W wrote:I'm an attorney in NYC. My firm represents a plaintiff and I have to write a motion opposing summary judgment. For obvious reasons, I can't mention the specifics of the case. The only thing I can mention is that it's personal injury. Long story short, the facts weigh in favor of the defendant. How should I write enough bullshit to get the court to deny the motion for summary judgment?

To avoid summary judgment, all you have to do is dispute one material fact. If there is a material fact in dispute, the court cannot grant summary judgment, even if the facts weigh in favor of the defendant. So just attempt to dispute as many material facts as you can (in good faith). If you can't do that, then you deserve to lose.

Without disclosing the specifics, what is the basis of defense counsel's motion? Statute of limitations? Some sort of exculpatory agreement? Res judicata? In my experience, most personal injury actions are tough to dismiss on summary judgment. In nearly every personal injury case there are multiple factual issues that can only be decided by the fact finder.

Also, I've ran into cases where defense counsel used summary judgment merely as a discovery device. Your adversary might be bluffing in an attempt to get you to show all your cards. Focus on factual issues like causation or damages and you will probably be able to give rise to a material fact sufficient to avoid summary judgment.

Good luck!

One more thing, I would harp on the summary judgment standard. The court needs to resolve any factual disputes in YOUR favor.

You're gonna ask strangers on the internet how to write a SJ brief?

Don't you have other lawyers you work with you can ask? I can't imagine you're a solo who took a case all the way to SJ.

lmao i cant believe this is a thread

Anonymous User wrote:I can't imagine you're a solo who took a case all the way to SJ.

It's pretty easy to make it to the summary judgment stage. Hell, I've seen crazy pro se "sovereign citizen" litigants do it before.