Local Rule Rule 56: Motions for Summary Judgment — D. Me.

Rule 56 Motions for Summary Judgment

(a) Filing Requirements Submissions in support of or in opposition to a motion for summary judgment must comply with the requirements of this rule and Local Rule 7.

(b) Supporting Statement of Material Facts

(1) A motion for summary judgment must be supported by a separate, short, and concise statement of material facts, each fact in a separately numbered paragraph, as to which the moving party contends there is no genuine issue of material fact to be tried. Each fact asserted in the statement must be stated simply and directly in narrative without footnotes or tables and must be supported by a record citation as required by subsection (f).

(2) Nothing in this rule precludes the parties from filing a stipulated statement of material facts as to the facts underlying a motion for summary judgment or any opposition filed. If the parties file a joint stipulation of fact, such stipulated facts will control and take precedence over any conflicting statement of fact filed by any party to the stipulation.

(1) A party opposing a motion for summary judgment must submit with its opposition a separate, short, and concise statement of material facts. The opposing statement must admit, deny, or qualify the facts by reference to each numbered paragraph of the moving party's statement of material facts. Unless a fact is admitted, the party must support each denial or qualification by a record citation as required by subsection (f). Each such statement must begin with the designation "Admitted," "Denied," or "Qualified" and, in the case of an admission, must end with such designation.

(2) The opposing statement may include a separately titled section containing additional facts, each stated simply and directly in narrative without footnotes or tables and supported by a record citation as required by subsection (f).

(d) Reply Statement of Material Facts A party replying to the opposition to a motion for summary judgment must submit with its reply a separate, short, and concise statement of material facts, which must be limited to any additional facts submitted by the opposing party. The reply statement must admit, deny, or qualify the facts by reference to each numbered paragraph of the opposing party's statement of opposing material facts and, unless a fact is admitted, must support each denial or qualification by a record citation as required by subsection (f). Each such statement must begin with the designation "Admitted," "Denied," or "Qualified" and, in the case of an admission, must end with such designation.

(e) Motions to Strike Not Allowed

(1) Motions to strike statements of fact are not allowed. If a party contends that an individual statement of fact should not be considered by the Court, the party may assert as part of the response to that statement of fact that it "should be stricken" with a brief statement of the reasons and supporting authority or record citation. Without prejudice to determining the request to strike, the party must admit, deny, or qualify the statement as provided in this rule.

(2) A party may respond to a request to strike either in the reply statement of material facts or, if the request was made in a reply statement of material facts, by filing a response within 14 days. A response to a request to strike must be strictly limited to a brief statement of the reasons why the statement of fact should be considered and supporting authority or record citation.

(f) Specific Record Citations Required An assertion of fact in a statement of material facts must be followed by a citation to the specific page or paragraph of identified record material supporting the assertion. The Court may disregard any statement of fact not supported by a specific citation to record material properly considered on summary judgment. The Court has no independent duty to search or consider any part of the record not specifically referenced in a statement of facts.

(g) Statement of Facts Deemed Admitted Unless Properly Controverted

(1) Facts in a supporting or opposing statement of material facts, if supported by record citations, will be deemed admitted unless properly controverted.

(2) Facts deemed admitted solely for summary judgment will not be deemed admitted for any other purpose.

(h) Pre-Filing Conference In all Standard Track cases, except those categories of cases in Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(a)(1)(B), a party intending to move for summary judgment must file no later than 7 days after the close of discovery either: (1) a joint motion setting forth a proposed schedule agreed to by all the parties and confirming that all parties agree that a pre-filing conference with a judge would not be helpful; or (2) a notice of intent to move for summary judgment and a request for a pre-filing conference with a judge.

(1) By Joint Motion with Proposed Schedule The parties may jointly propose a schedule for briefing the motions for summary judgment. The proposed schedule must include:

(A) Proposed page limits and filing deadlines. If the parties propose to exceed the limits in Local Rule 7, the motion must include a brief statement explaining why good cause exists for allowing extra time or pages.

(B) The estimated number of statements of material fact and the estimated number of additional statements by any party opposing the motion for summary judgment.

(C) A deadline to file stipulations or a stipulated record. The deadline must be at least 5 calendar days before the deadline for filing the motion for summary judgment.

(D) Proposed page limits and deadlines for filing Daubert and Kumho motions, oppositions to Daubert and Kumho motions, and replies to oppositions to Daubert and Kumho motions. If the parties propose to exceed the time or page limits in Local Rule 7, the motion must include a brief statement explaining why good cause exists for allowing extra time or pages.

The Court may adopt or modify the jointly proposed schedule or instead may set the matter for a pre-filing conference.

(2) By Notice Absent agreement, the movant must provide the Court and all parties to the action with written notice of the intent to seek summary judgment.

(3) Pre-Filing Conference At any pre-filing conference, the parties must be prepared to discuss, and the Court may consider:

(A) the legal and factual issues to be addressed by any motions for summary judgment;

(B) the estimated number of paragraphs in any statement of material facts to be filed;

(D) the deadlines for filing the motion for summary judgment and supporting and opposing material;

(E) the use of stipulations with or in lieu of separate statements of material fact; and

(F) whether either party intends to file any Daubert or Kumho motions, and, if so, the issues to be addressed by the motions, the length of any memoranda of law, and the deadlines for filing the motions.

Following any pre-filing conference, the Court will issue an order reciting the action taken at the conference.

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