Legal Memorandum: Summary Judgement in GA

Issue: Under Georgia law, who has the burden of showing there is no genuine issue as to any material fact in summary judgement.

Under Georgia law, on summary judgment, the movant has the burden of showing there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. McGinty v. Goldens’ Foundry & Mach. Co., 208 Ga. App. 248, 430 S.E.2d 185 (1993).  When the movant is the defendant, it has the additional burden of "piercing the plaintiff’s pleadings and affirmatively negating one or more essential elements of the complaint."  Id., 430 S.E.2d at 186.  In ruling on a motion for summary judgment, the opposing party should "be given the benefit of all reasonable doubt, and the court should construe the evidence and all inferences and conclusions arising therefrom most favorably toward the party opposing the motion.  Id.  Summary judgment is appropriate when the court, "viewing all the facts and reasonable inferences from those facts in a light most favorable to the non-moving party, concludes that the evidence does not create a triable issue as to each essential element of the case.  Id.

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