Civil Procedure
May 15, 2023
Motions for summary judgment: Beware of “The UMF Trap!”
Tell your complete story in your MPA and in the exhibits. But don’t try to tell it in the UMF. It won’t do you any good, and it might result in the denial of your motion for a silly reason.
Myron Moskovitz
Legal Director
Moskovitz Appellate Team
90 Crocker Ave
Piedmont , CA 94611-3823
Phone: (510) 384-0354
Email: myronmoskovitz@gmail.com
UC Berkeley SOL Boalt Hal
Myron Moskovitz is author of Strategies On Appeal (CEB, 2021; digital: ceb.com; print: https://store.ceb.com/strategies-on-appeal-2) and Winning An Appeal (5th ed., Carolina Academic Press). He is Director of Moskovitz Appellate Team, a group of former appellate judges and appellate research attorneys who handle and consult on appeals and writs. See MoskovitzAppellateTeam.com. The Daily Journal designated Moskovitz Appellate Team as one of California's top boutique law firms. Myron can be contacted at myronmoskovitz@gmail.com or (510) 384-0354. Prior "Moskovitz On Appeal" columns can be found at http://moskovitzappellateteam.com/blog.
During my career handling civil appeals, I would guess that about half of them involved motions for summary judgment.
Why? While the rules lean towards denial – to preserve the right to trial – in practice many Superior Court judges lean towards granting them in order to cut down on time-consuming jury trials.
So, I’ve learned a lot about how attorneys might deal with them.
This co...
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