Cross-Motions for Summary Judgment

If you think the debt collector hasn’t shown you any real evidence in the discovery phase – and you’ve filed your motion to compel to eliminate any doubts about what it’s got – then maybe you should file a motion for summary judgment. But what if the debt collector files one first? Then you want to file a “Cross-Motion for Summary Judgment.”

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A Cross-Motion for Summary Judgment is just the same as a (regular) Motion, except that it’s a little more complicated: you both have to prove – in one part – that there are “genuine issues of material fact” about the things they say, and that there is no real dispute about the things you say.

Cross-motions can be on the same issues. For example, you might both be claiming that the undisputed facts show something about the debt, and you might be surprised how often that comes up. Since proof of the debt so often hinges on the ability of the debt collector to use business records it didn’t create, they could argue that the records prove there’s a debt, while you argue that, since they cannot use the records, the proof is that they cannot show you owe the money.

It is also possible for cross motions to be directed at different things: they argue that the proof shows you owe the money, whereas you argue it doesn’t and that they violated the FDCPA.