By Andrew Steele - 10 Jun 2019
A complaint of the court system is that justice comes too
slowly and at too great a cost. Is there a way to obtain a
relatively speedy judgment at a reduced cost? For some claims - the
answer is 'yes' and the way to achieve it is to issue summary
judgment proceedings.
Typically court proceedings involve the parties exchanging all
documents relevant to the dispute (a sometimes laborious exercise
which lawyers call 'discovery') before going to a trial with all
the 'bells and whistles', that is, witnesses giving oral testimony,
cross examination and submissions to the Judge. By contrast,
summary judgment involves only affidavits and submissions - no
discovery and no witnesses appearing in open court. Using summary
judgment proceedings, the time it takes to get to hearing and the
hearing time itself both shrink dramatically.
Summary judgment proceedings are perfect for where the defendant
has no real defence to a claim. They may also be used by a
defendant to fight off a hopeless claim by a plaintiff. It is
important that the facts in the dispute are either not disputed or
can be conclusively established by affidavit. It does not matter if
the decisive point of law is difficult and requiring of substantial
argument.
If you believe you have the right kind of claim, contact one of
our team and we can tell you whether summary judgment proceedings
are a good option for you.
Contact
Litigation
team