Opinion ID: 1776306
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: the trial court improperly granted a summary judgment to the appellees.

Text: On August 29, 1979, Green filed a motion for a summary judgment in the Bourbon Circuit Court. No such motion was filed by any of the respondents. After having heard arguments of counsel and having considered the law in light of the briefs filed with the court by the respective parties, the trial judge, on December 14, 1979, filed a Statement of Facts and an Opinion and a Judgment and Order. In considering the present issue, we limit our discussion and finding to the narrow issue of whether a trial judge is authorized to grant a summary judgment in favor of a party who had not requested it. We are of the opinion that Collins v. Duff, Ky., 283 S.W.2d 179, 183 (1955), is dispositive of this issue. In Collins we wrote: Collins raises some procedural objections to the judgment of the Perry Circuit Court. He maintains that, since the Duffs, as plaintiffs, did not themselves move for a summary judgment, but merely opposed his motion for such judgment, the court could not enter summary judgment for the plaintiffs. We do not agree. It is our opinion that in this kind of situation, where overruling the defendant's motion for summary judgment necessarily would require a determination that the plaintiffs were entitled to the relief asked, a motion for summary judgment by the plaintiffs would have been a useless formality. See Hennessey v. Federal Security Administrator, D.C., 88 F.Supp. 664; Hooker v. New York Life Ins. Co., D.C., 66 F.Supp. 313; 3 Moore's Federal Practice, 1st Ed., sec. 56.02, p. 3183. A trial judge having all of the pertinent issues before him at the time a case is submitted and considered by him on a motion for summary judgment would be justified in considering the propriety of a summary judgment under such conditions to a party who had not sought it. However, in the subject action, as is hereinafter shown, the trial judge acted erroneously in granting summary judgment.
CR 56.03 provides that The judgment sought shall be rendered forthwith if the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, stipulations, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law. Summary judgment procedure is designed to expedite the disposition of cases and avoid unnecessary trials when no genuine issues of fact are raised. Dossett v. New York Mining and Manufacturing Co., Ky., 451 S.W.2d 843 (1970). The trial court must examine the evidentiary material, not in order to decide any issue of fact but only to determine if a real issue does exist. It is not necessary that there must be many genuine issues of fact; it is sufficient to deny the granting of a summary judgment even though the genuine issue of a material fact may be small. Simpson v. Graves, Ky., 451 S.W.2d 399 (1970). A review of the record in the subject action discloses that there are many genuine issues of fact and that the trial judge erred in granting a summary judgment dismissing Green's complaint. Without in any way limiting the parties as to the character, extent or nature of the evidence that may be presented, we note that (1) was there a new street involved in the division; (2) were all of the lots five acres or more; and (3) was the division of land for agricultural purposes?