Short answer. Yes. A party seeking to recover on a claim may move for summary judgment any time after the answer is served. Judgment is rendered forthwith if the record shows no genuine issue as to any material fact, apart from the amount of damages, and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.
What the law says
A party seeking to recover upon a claim, counterclaim, or cross-claim or to obtain a declaratory relief may, at any time after the pleading in answer thereto has been served, move with supporting affidavits, depositions or admissions for a summary judgment in his or her favor upon all or any part thereof.
Rule 35, Section 1 — Summary judgment for claimant. Read the full provision →
What the law says
Unless the court orders the conduct of a hearing, judgment sought shall be rendered forthwith if the pleadings, supporting affidavits, depositions and admissions on file, show that, except as to the amount of damages, there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.
Rule 35, Section 3 — Motion and proceedings thereon. Read the full provision →
The motion has to be supported, not just asserted
A party cannot simply claim there is nothing genuinely in dispute — the motion has to be made with supporting affidavits, depositions or admissions, and it must cite the supporting affidavits, depositions or admissions, and the specific law relied upon. Summary judgment is decided on this evidentiary record, not on the pleadings' bare allegations alone, so the strength of the motion depends heavily on what evidence actually backs it up.
The opposing party gets a short, fixed window to respond
Once the motion is filed, the adverse party may file a comment and serve opposing evidence, but only within a non-extendible period of five calendar days from receipt of the motion. That period cannot be stretched, which makes summary judgment proceedings move considerably faster than an ordinary trial timeline, and it leaves little room for the opposing party to delay putting together a response.
What the court actually has to find
Judgment is rendered forthwith, without necessarily even a hearing, if the record shows that except as to the amount of damages, there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Both conditions have to be met — the absence of a genuine factual dispute, and legal entitlement to win — before the court can grant summary judgment. A dispute over the amount of damages alone does not block it.
The court's ruling on the motion cannot be separately challenged
The rule closes off an immediate side-track: any action of the court on a motion for summary judgment shall not be subject of an appeal or petition for certiorari, prohibition or mandamus. A party unhappy with how the court ruled on the motion has to raise that objection as part of a later appeal of the case itself, not through a separate challenge to the ruling on the motion alone.
Related provisions
- Rule 35, Section 1 — Summary judgment for claimant
- Rule 35, Section 3 — Motion and proceedings thereon