Legal Question in Civil Litigation in California

If Defendant files a Motion For Summary Judgment, with trial date already set 10 months ahead, and their MSJ was not signed and was defective with no table of contents, can Plaintiff win over their motion and would that be the end of their MSJ, or could Defendant simply file another MSJ after the MSJ date , with plenty of time before the trial date. Does Res Judicata apply to MSJ, of defendant tries to file another?


Asked on 2/03/16, 2:45 pm

2 Answers from Attorneys

Robert F. Cohen Law Office of Robert F. Cohen

I would think defendant could either withdraw the motion or request that the court continue the hearing to allow him/her/it to provide a signed copy that complies with all of the requirements. If it were taken off-calendar, it would not be for substantive reasons and it would seem that defendant could file another one if there's still time.

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Answered on 2/03/16, 3:00 pm
Edward Hoffman Law Offices of Edward A. Hoffman

The defects you describe aren't serious, unless the missing signature was for a declaration rather than the motion itself. If the court thinks they're significant at all, it will very likely let the moving party correct them as Mr. Cohen describes.

"Res judicata" essentially means "this has already been decided." It's a complex rule which I can't adequately explain here. In general, though, it applies when an issue that was decided on the merits in one case later comes up again in a *different* case involving the same parties. The subsequent MSJ you mention would be in the same case. And if the original MSJ is taken off calendar for procedural reasons, then there will not be a decision at all. Because the court would not have adjudicated the first MSJ, it could have no res judicata effect on the second one.

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Answered on 2/03/16, 3:35 pm


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