A summary judgment is a judgment entered by a court for one party and against another party without a full trial.
OverviewIn civil cases, either party may make a pre-trial motion for summary judgment.
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courts and procedure
summation
In a legal trial, summation refers to the final, closing argument articulated by a litigant to a judge or jury concerning the merits of their side of a case. In contrast to an opening statement, in which a litigant may only preview what the...
summons
A summons is a form prepared by the plaintiff and issued by a court that informs the defendant that they are being sued or are required to appear in court. It may be served by a sheriff or other authorized person, such as the process server...
supernumerary witness
A supernumerary witness is an extra witness that is not required; being beyond the requisite number of witnesses. In law, a supernumerary witness is one whose testimony is considered excessive or unnecessary for the resolution of a legal case...
supersedeas
Supersedeas (also termed “writ of supersedeas”) is Latin for “you shall desist.” It refers to a stay of the enforcement of a judgment pending appeal. Essentially, it is a writ or bond that suspends a judgment creditor’s power to levy...
supplemental jurisdiction
Supplemental jurisdiction allows the federal court to hear additional claims that it would not independently have subject matter jurisdiction (either diversity jurisdiction or federal question jurisdiction) over. These claims must be closely...
suppression
Suppression occurs when evidence collected in violation of the Constitution becomes inadmissible at trial. Evidence excluded this way is referred to as being “suppressed.” This is known as the Exclusionary Rule.
The process...
surrebuttal
Surrebuttal is the response to a rebuttal that the responding party may be allowed to make in rare circumstances. Usually, a court will only allow the moving party to have a rebuttal to the evidence and arguments of the responding party....
surrejoinder
A surrejoinder is a legal response by the plaintiff to the rejoinder (the defendant’s reply to the plaintiff’s original response to the defendant’s answer), in the pretrial phase of a civil lawsuit. The surrejoinder gives the plaintiff a...
suspect classification
Suspect classification refers to a class of individuals who have been historically subject to discrimination. The Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment, imposes a restraint on the governmental use of suspect classification. There are...