Statements of Material Facts in Summary Judgment Motions Require Careful Draftsmanship

Overview: This paper asserts that Rule 56.1 and its counterparts were designed to facilitate courts’ analysis of the evidence on summary judgment motions. Improperly drafted statements may frustrate counsel’s purpose in making the motion. To avoid the grant or denial of summary judgment on “technical” grounds, and to facilitate the court’s resolution of a dispute on the merits, a practitioner should exercise diligence and caution in preparing and responding to a Rule 56.1 statement. A movant’s statement should contain only factual assertions, not legal arguments, which should be supported by citations to admissible evidence. The nonmovant’s statement should respond to each of the movant’s factual assertions, stating whether they are contested or uncontested. In light of the Second Circuit’s recent pronouncements concerning Rule 56.1 and other similar local rules, it remains to be seen what effect courts will give to assertions contained in a movant’s Rule 56.1 statement where those assertions are not properly contested by the non-movant. To avoid the issue altogether, the non-movant should be sure to cite to admissible evidence demonstrating that a particular fact is in dispute, as required by the rule.

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Format: PDF | Size: 67KB | Date: Feb 2003 | Pages: 4