The Motion For Partial Summary Judgment: The Litigator's Often Forgotten Tool

The discovery phase in your products liability lawsuit has been completed and it's time to decide the next course of action before proceeding to trial. One possibility, of course, is to move for summary judgment to knock out the entire case pending against your client. However, you have concluded that, despite the strengths of your case, there are enough "issues of fact" to make the exercise probably useless.

Have you considered instead a Motion for Partial Summary Judgment? Perhaps you should.

The first step is to determine whether your jurisdiction permits motions for partial summary judgment to be filed. Rule 56 of The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure specifically calls for "Partial" summary judgments in its very title. In my home state, New York's CPLR 3212(e) reads, "In any other action summary judgment may be granted as to one or more causes of action, or part thereof, in favor of any one or more parties, to the extent warranted, on such terms as may be just."