Any type of legal need that a business in Texas might have could get complicated in a hurry. But, if a legal issue leads to litigation, this is when business leaders need to be extra careful about how they handle their company’s position. Any little detail might be the key to how a lawsuit is decided.
Getting through litigation
When you are deep into litigation over a business issue, you may hear the term “summary judgment” come up. This is a legal maneuver in which one party or the other asks the court to make a ruling on some or all of the issues in the case because, based on all of the available information, there are no genuine issues of material fact in dispute between the parties.
In essence, if a party can credibly claim that neither party is disputing the facts at hand, or at least shouldn’t be, then a summary judgment motion asks the court to simply rule on the issues as a matter of law – since there are no more facts to argue about.
As our readers in Texas can probably imagine, summary judgment motions and the briefs supporting those motions can be meticulous, complicated and lengthy. And, of course, the other side will have an opportunity to respond. If it gets far enough, there may even be oral arguments on the summary judgment motion and response – becoming, in reality, a mini trial.
When your business is facing complicated litigation matters, be sure to consider all potential options for resolving the case. Yes, you may want to entertain settlement talks or even mediation, but sometimes business law issues need to be hashed out in courtroom proceedings.