Summary Judgment: Delicious or Sour?

A funny opening from Judge Selya's opinion in Mandel v. Boston Phoenix, Inc. (1st Cir. 2006):

The oenologist's creed teaches that we should drink no wine before its time. Much the same principle applies to summary judgment; it is a deliciously helpful device if properly timed, but one that can leave a sour taste if brought to bear on an insufficiently fermented record.

Comments

[Dr. Ed]

Love it.

[Dan Schiavetta]

A judge once called my s/j motion "fermented" and it was not a compliment.

[Á àß äẞç ãþÇđ âÞ¢Đæ ǎB€Ðëf ảhf]

Sounds like sour grapes.

[GMUSL Alum]

The danger of using metaphors is when the user gets the facts wrong. That's what happened here, and the metaphor does not work for prematurity.

In the context of winemaking, fermentation refers to the process of yeast turning sugars into ethanol. So in this instance, an "insufficiently fermented record" would leave a sweet taste, not a sour one, due to the presence of residual sugar. A sour taste, by contrast, would only result from a(n undesired) secondary fermentation (by acetobacteria) of the alcohol from the primary fermentation into acetic acid. It's much more likely in wines that go too long than those that are pre-maturity.