Rule 13 Motions for Summary Judgment

Before you can ask a magistrate to decide a case through summary judgment, you need permission first. You can't just file this type of motion on your own whenever you want. You have to get the magistrate's approval in one of two ways: either bring it up at a case management conference, or file a joint motion with the other side that includes a proposed schedule for the briefs.

Once permission is granted, the magistrate may use the same standards found in the Regular Division's rule on summary judgment (TCR 47) to decide the motion. This means the same basic legal test applies, even though the case is in the Magistrate Division. In short, this rule sets up a gatekeeping step so that summary judgment motions are planned out and scheduled properly, instead of being filed without warning.