Opinion ID: 3014613
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Propriety of the Grant of Summary Judgment —

Text: Procedural Issues A. Propriety of the Grant of Summary Judgment in Favor of a Non-Movant: The District Court granted summary judgment to Wilmington, a non-moving party. We have previously 8 recognized that “authority has developed to allow a court to grant summary to a non-moving party.”2 Chambers Dev. Co., v. Passaic County Utils. Auth., 62 F.3d 582, 584 n.5 (3d Cir. 1995). However, we have also held that summary judgment will not be granted to a non-moving party without “first placing the adversarial party on notice that the court is considering a sua sponte summary judgment motion.” Id. The threshold question before us is therefore whether the District Court’s failure to give notice that it was considering a grant of summary judgment to the non-movant constitutes a fatal procedural flaw, irrespective of the merits of the summary judgment grant itself. B. Propriety of the Grant of Sua Sponte Summary