Motion for Summary Judgment:
Summary Judgment
A presiding judge in a matter is expected to give a decision after a careful evaluation of the evidence of the parties involved. The decision shall put to settlement the fact in issue. A Judgment is therefore a written opinion of the presiding judge on a case obtained from an overall evaluation of all the evidence presented by the parties in the matter.
However, there are times the Judge may agree to give judgment summarily in a matter. Summary judgment is a judgment given in favor of the plaintiff/claimant summarily without going through a full trial. It is a summarized trial. The matter is not tried in its fullness but a merit judgment is issued. The parties know their fact from the inception of the matter. The plaintiff knows that the Defendant has no defence for the action and the Defendant is not preparing to present a good defence for the claim.
For summary judgment, the parties shall not be allowed to call upon their witnesses to testify in the matter because there is no issue contestable in the matter by the parties.
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The court shall be expected to enter summary judgment in favor of the plaintiff. While entering a summary judgment, the only things that the court shall consider are the writ of summons, pleadings of the parties, Motion for summary judgment, affidavit in support of the application, counter affidavit, and/ or documents to be relied upon and written address where necessary.
Motion for summary judgment
It’s a conventional practice that reliefs are meant to be sought in court through the application. Motion is a written or oral application praying to the court for some relief. A plaintiff who expects the court to enter a summary judgment Application in his favor shall file a motion in the court for a summary judgment to be entered in his favour. The motion shall be accompanied by an Affidavit setting out the facts while judgment should be entered in his favour summarily. Motion for a summary judgment is a written application filed by the Plaintiff praying to the court that judgment should be entered in his favour and against the Defendant because the Defendant doesn’t have a good defence for the matter.
A motion for summary judgment is meant to be filed by the plaintiff in court. he shall pray to the court that the matter should be decided summarily.
The Defendant on the other hand shall also file a counter affidavit where he shall either accept the application for summary judgment or protest the application. If Defendant accepts the application for summary judgment, the court shall be ready to enter a summary judgment. However, if he contests the judgment with cogent reasons, then the court shall compare the facts and give judgment.
Motion for summary judgment shall disclose all the reasons while the court shall not dive into full trial in the case. It is meant to reduce the workload of the court. The court is allowed to focus on other cases and decide the case summarily.