Opinion ID: 198787
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: standard of review

Text: 3 Summary judgment is an accepted means of determining whether a trial is actually required. Serapion v. Martnez, 119 F.3d 982, 987 (1st Cir. 1997); see also Wynne v. Tufts Univ. Sch. of Med., 976 F.2d 791, 793-94 (1st Cir. 1992) ([S]ummary judgment's role is to pierce the boilerplate of the pleadings and assay the parties' proof in order to determine whether trial is actually required.). Unless the party opposing a motion for summary judgment can identify a genuine issue as to a material fact, the motion may end the case. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(c); Smith v. F.W. Morse & Co., Inc., 76 F.3d 413, 428 (1st Cir. 1996). A genuine issue is one supported by such evidence that a reasonable jury, drawing favorable inferences, could resolve it in favor of the nonmoving party. Id. at 427; see also Libertad v. Welch, 53 F.3d 428, 435 (1st Cir. 1995). 4 To defeat Robroy's Motion for Summary Judgment, Triangle is required to produce specific facts, in suitable evidentiary form, to . . . establish the presence of a trialworthy issue. Morris v. Government Dev't Bank of Puerto Rico, 27 F.3d 746, 748 (1st Cir. 1994). '[C]onclusory allegations, improbable inferences, and unsupported speculation,' are insufficient to establish a genuine dispute of fact. Smith, 76 F.3d at 428 (quoting Medina-Munoz v. R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., 896 F.2d 5, 8 (1st Cir. 1990)); see Serapion, 119 F.3d at 986; Libertad, 53 F.3d at 435; Morris, 27 F.3d at 748. 5 We review the district court's summary judgment de novo and assess the facts in a light most favorable to Triangle. See Morris, 27 F.3d at 748. This standard of review permits us to uphold the district court's order of summary judgment regardless of whether we reject or adopt its rationale, so long as an independently sufficient ground is made manifest by the record. Mesnick v. General Elec. Co., 950 F.2d 816, 822 (1st Cir. 1991) (citing Garside v. Osco Drug, Inc., 895 F.2d 46, 48-49 (1st Cir. 1990)); see also Houlton Citizens' Coalition v. Town of Houlton, 175 F.3d 178, 184 (1st Cir. 1999); Hachikian v. FDIC, 96 F.3d 502, 504 (1st Cir. 1996).