Motion for Summary Disposition in Civil Litigation

1 MOTION FOR SUMMARY DISPOSITION ASSIGNMENT CIVIL LITIGATION II (LS 428 (02)) Winter 2026 ASSIGNMENT: This semester we will build on the writing skills you learned in Civil Litigation I by writing a Brief in Support of a Motion for Summary Disposition. Please note that you are not required to write the motion. We are only writing the brief in support of the motion. There are several types of motions that may be filed during litigation. For example, a motion to compel may be filed when one party (Party A) requests information from another party (Party B), and Party B refuses to provide the materials. Party A may file a motion and ask the Court to determine whether the materials must be provided to Party A. A Motion for Summary Judgment (in Michigan its called a Motion for Summary Disposition) is usually filed after the parties have completed most, if not all, of the discovery process. In other words, the motion is usually filed after both parties have taken depositions, obtained documents that are important in the case, and gathered the information they need to move forward. Once a party has this information, they may file a motion for summary disposition to ask the court to decide some, or all, of the legal issues in the case. Remember, jurors decide questions of fact and judges decide questions of law. If the parties disagree about the facts of the case, the court will likely deny the motion and let the jury decide. Pretend that you work for a law firm that represents Defendant, Rhondas Concrete Services. The lead attorney in your firm has asked you to help research the legal issues involved in this case and help draft a Brief in Support of Defendant, Rhondas Concrete Services, Motion for Summary Disposition. You are asking the Court (aka the Judge) to rule that your client is not liable as a matter of law. To help you get started, the lead attorney has told you that the case of Lugo v Ameritech Corp., Inc. is very important and you should read that case before diving into the rest of the research. We will start this assignment by breaking into small groups. Your group will review the case law and discuss how these cases can be used to support your motion. Although your team will brainstorm ideas together, you will each write your own brief. Although I am not setting a minimum page requirement, I anticipate your briefs will be 7-10 pages based on the requirements of this assignment. Please note that you are required to thoroughly discuss and cite to at least 5 cases in your brief to help support your legal arguments, and two of these cases must be the Lugo case and the Towns case. You must use a thorough case illustration when citing each case. The purpose of this assignment is to help you practice critical thinking and legal writing skills. To help hone these skills, we are going to submit two versions of the brief. Although we call the first version of your brief a rough draft, this simply means its the first version of the brief that you are submitting to me. The rough draft should be a complete brief which thoroughly addresses each part of the legal argument. Please do not submit semi-completed work, or a partial draft of your brief. Once your initial draft is submitted, we will have an anonymous peer review during class. I think/hope that seeing another classmates work will help you refine your own legal arguments. Here are a few things to remember when you are writing your brief: – The brief should be written with 12-point font, Times New Roman. – The main portion of the brief should be double spaced with one-inch margins on all sides of the document. Do not add extra spacing between paragraphs. – Block quotes are single spaced and indented on both sides. – Please use Microsoft Word, not Google Docs. Microsoft Word is free through the university, and its the most commonly used program in the legal field so its helpful to learn it now. – The headings and subheadings should be single spaced. All the information you need for this assignment is posted on our Blackboard course site under the Motion for Summary Disposition Assignment. There you will find the following information: – A summary which details the facts of the case. – Grading rubrics for the rough draft and final draft of the brief. (Remember to use this as a check list.) – A list of cases you may utilize in your brief. Please note that you must incorporate at least 5 of these cases into your brief with thorough case illustrations for each case. You must include Lugo v Ameritech Corp., Inc. and Towns v City of Detroit in your brief. You may not research or use any other cases. – A template for a Motion for Summary Disposition. I understand this assignment may feel intimidating, but dont worry! Remember that we are going to spend class time workshopping the legal authority, discussing the relevant arguments, and revising the first draft. In other words, we will take this assignment one step at a time, so you feel confident in your work. You may not use any form of AI to complete any portion of this assignment. That means that you may not use AI to help you summarize cases, draft the brief, prepare case illustrations, or in any other capacity. Your work must be your own. However, I will allow you to use the Editor tool in Microsoft Word for the limited purpose of utilizing the spelling and grammar check for your brief. Important Deadlines to Remember: February 2, 2026: a. Please bring a hard copy of your rough draft to class on Monday, February 2. Please remove your name and any identifying information from this draft so we can complete an anonymous peer review during class. (You will earn up to 20 points just for participating in the peer review process.) b. You must also upload a copy of your draft to our BB course site by 10:00 am on Monday, February 2. (Before class). Please include your name on this version of your rough draft. **** The rough draft is worth a maximum of 40 points. February 9, 2026: The final draft of your Brief in Support of Defendant, Rhondas Concrete Services Motion for Summary Disposition is due by 11:59 pm on Tuesday, February 17. Please submit this document in Microsoft Word or PDF format. The final draft of your Brief is worth a maximum of 90 points. Good luck everyone! Please let me know if you have any questions.