Court Opinion

ID: 9535811
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 06:44:36.43783+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:33:20.698578
License: Public Domain

Barney, J.
(Dissenting). The majority opinion concedes the factual situation is unusual in this case. I agree. Feeling, as I do, that the summary judgment procedures of V.R.C.P. 56 are intended to apply to cases where there is “no genuine issue as to any material fact and that any party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law”, I find its application questionable here. Since the procedure is a denial of an evidentiary trial, its application, to be consistent with the rights of litigants, must have a narrow ambit. These concerns have stronger appeal than the advantages of judicial efficiency, and, in any doubtful case, I would resolve the issue in favor of the right to trial, even though the outcome might be the same.