Summary Judgment in Contract Cases: Strategy and Tactics for Movants and Respondents
Recording of a 90-minute CLE video webinar with Q&A
This CLE webinar will guide experienced counsel through advanced strategies and tactics for successfully avoiding, achieving, or resisting summary judgment in a contract dispute. The panel will discuss the rules of contract interpretation and real versus imagined ambiguity, when other evidence and parol evidence are admissible, what issues and arguments are most well received by a court, and how to make it easier for the court to decide the issue. The program will discuss strategies to use when the contract at issue is tailored to a transaction and when it is a template used by the client routinely, as well as the consequences of having a court definitively interpret the writing. For these reasons, this program will also assist corporate counsel who draft contracts.
Outline
- What is the best way to avoid creating issues of fact?
- What are the best types of issues to submit for summary judgment?
- What are the best and worst arguments to make on summary judgment in contract cases?
- Interpretation of contracts
- Ambiguities are the exception, not the rule
- Parol evidence rule
- Anti-reliance clauses
- Creating and rebutting material questions of fact
- Burden of proof
- In the trial court
- On appeal
- De novo
- Evaluation of trial court's expressed reasoning
Benefits
The panel will review these and other key issues:
- Evaluating strategic decisions regarding rules of interpretation for a contract
- Avoiding determination that a contract is ambiguous as a matter of law
Faculty
Anthony L. Cochran
Partner
Smith Gambrell & Russell
Mr. Cochran represents individuals and businesses in a wide variety of matters. He has tried jury trials, bench trials,... | Read More
Mr. Cochran represents individuals and businesses in a wide variety of matters. He has tried jury trials, bench trials, administrative and regulatory hearings, and medical peer review hearings. He has appeared on many panels and spoken at seminars on a variety of topics, including the application of the Daubert rule and a host of topics related to white-collar criminal law and investigations.
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Michael L. Eber
Partner
Smith Gambrell & Russell
Mr. Eber is a Partner at SGR whose practice focuses on complex business litigation and appeals. He has significant... | Read More
Mr. Eber is a Partner at SGR whose practice focuses on complex business litigation and appeals. He has significant experience representing both plaintiffs and defendants in arbitration, mediation, and state and federal courts. Mr. Mr. Eber's appellate cases have addressed a broad range of issues, including class certification, constitutional law, securities law, attorneys’ fee awards, insurance coverage, employment, attorney disqualification, and civil procedure. Recently, he argued and won three appeals in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit on behalf of business clients seeking to recover damages from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. In the first case, Mr. Eber convinced the Fifth Circuit to vacate the denial of a $4 million claim. After a favorable ruling on remand, the case was settled. In the second case, he defended a $58 million claim, successfully arguing against Lisa Blatt, one of the nation’s most prominent appellate advocates. And in the third case, Mr. Eber won affirmance of a $28 million claim.
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Daniel S. Goldstein
Counsel
Smith Gambrell & Russell
Mr. Goldstein’s practice focuses on commercial litigation and employment law. He regularly handles cases before... | Read More
Mr. Goldstein’s practice focuses on commercial litigation and employment law. He regularly handles cases before state and federal courts, appellate courts, arbitration forums and administrative agencies. He has significant experience litigating complex commercial disputes, and has handled multi-state and cross-border litigations in various jurisdictions including Delaware, California, Florida, Washington D.C., the Netherlands, Cayman Islands, British Virgin Islands, and Israel.
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