The Volokh Conspiracy

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Volokh Conspiracy

Summary Judgment: Delicious or Sour?

|The Volokh Conspiracy |


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.

Eugene Volokh is the Gary T. Schwartz Distinguished Professor of Law at UCLA and a Visiting Fellow (Senior Fellow starting May 2024) at the Hoover Institution (Stanford). Naturally, his posts here (like the opinions of the other bloggers) are his own, and not endorsed by any educational institution.