Top Law Schools

I have a question concerning the standard of review of a motion for summary judgment.

Suppose we are in Federal District Court. Plaintiff files a complaint, and Defendant denies most of the complaint in his answer. The Defendant then moves for summary judgment. Will the complaint still be read in the Plaintiff's favor (including those allegations the defendant denied), so long as the statements of facts are not conclusory re-states of the law in question?

Basically, I don't know if the facts in the complaint may still be used if the defendant has denied those alleged facts.

Any clarification will help.

Thanks

the defendant has to produce evidence (or at least refer to evidence that would be admissible at trial) to support its motion for summary judgment. they can't just deny the allegations. whatever evidence they produce will be viewed in the light most favorable to the plaintiff, drawing all reasonable inferences in the plaintiff's favor. if there's still a genuine dispute of material fact at that point, the motion fails.

this sounds like a motion to dismiss would be more appropriate

patogordo wrote:the defendant has to produce evidence (or at least refer to evidence that would be admissible at trial) to support its motion for summary judgment. they can't just deny the allegations. whatever evidence they produce will be viewed in the light most favorable to the plaintiff, drawing all reasonable inferences in the plaintiff's favor. if there's still a genuine dispute of material fact at that point, the motion fails.

Thanks, this helps a lot

Non-moving party is granted dat favorable light doe

i mean the answer is basically yes. if plaintiff says "you did X" and defendant says "i deny doing X" and that's all there is then neither side is getting summary judgment. it doesn't matter that "you did X" is just a bare allegation or that plaintiff is not credible or whatever.

but there are situations where plaintiff might allege "you did X" and defendant produces evidence that they didn't do X, and even viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the plaintiff no reasonable jury could find that defendant did X. and in that case it's not like plaintiff can say "but bro my complaint says you did X and i get dat favorable light so you can't say i'm lying."

patogordo wrote:i mean the answer is basically yes. if plaintiff says "you did X" and defendant says "i deny doing X" and that's all there is then neither side is getting summary judgment. it doesn't matter that "you did X" is just a bare allegation or that plaintiff is not credible or whatever.

but there are situations where plaintiff might allege "you did X" and defendant produces evidence that they didn't do X, and even viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the plaintiff no reasonable jury could find that defendant did X. and in that case it's not like plaintiff can say "but bro my complaint says you did X and i get dat favorable light so you can't say i'm lying."

But dat non-moving party's sworn affidavit is substantive doe

UnderrateOverachieve wrote:

patogordo wrote:i mean the answer is basically yes. if plaintiff says "you did X" and defendant says "i deny doing X" and that's all there is then neither side is getting summary judgment. it doesn't matter that "you did X" is just a bare allegation or that plaintiff is not credible or whatever.

but there are situations where plaintiff might allege "you did X" and defendant produces evidence that they didn't do X, and even viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the plaintiff no reasonable jury could find that defendant did X. and in that case it's not like plaintiff can say "but bro my complaint says you did X and i get dat favorable light so you can't say i'm lying."

But dat non-moving party's sworn affidavit is substantive doe

OP's asking about the complaint

patogordo wrote:

UnderrateOverachieve wrote:

patogordo wrote:i mean the answer is basically yes. if plaintiff says "you did X" and defendant says "i deny doing X" and that's all there is then neither side is getting summary judgment. it doesn't matter that "you did X" is just a bare allegation or that plaintiff is not credible or whatever.

but there are situations where plaintiff might allege "you did X" and defendant produces evidence that they didn't do X, and even viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the plaintiff no reasonable jury could find that defendant did X. and in that case it's not like plaintiff can say "but bro my complaint says you did X and i get dat favorable light so you can't say i'm lying."

But dat non-moving party's sworn affidavit is substantive doe

OP's asking about the complaint

Sorry, I was getting silly for fun.

Could be a verified complaint.

Sounds like OP is confusing MTD with MSJ. MSJ will usually have some discovery for the parties to refer to so you don't have to rely on the complaint/answer.