Summary Judgment: Ending a Case Before Trial in Texas

What summary judgment decides

A trial exists to resolve disputed facts. When the facts that matter are not genuinely disputed, the law can be applied to them without one. Summary judgment is the procedure for asking the judge to do that. In a business case it is the most common way a claim ends short of settlement: a contract claim decided on the written terms, a limitations defense decided on undisputed dates, a fraud claim dismissed because no evidence supports reliance or damages.

The governing rule is Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 166a, which the Supreme Court of Texas rewrote in Misc. Docket No. 26-9012, effective March 1, 2026, for motions filed on or after that date. The court's comment says that other than the deadline changes the rewrite is not intended to change the substantive law. Federal court uses Fed. R. Civ. P. 56, with the same standard and its own deadlines.

Two kinds of motion

Traditional motion

A traditional motion seeks to establish that no genuine issue of material fact exists as to a claim or defense and that the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. The movant must state its specific grounds and produce the evidence that proves them: the contract, the undisputed payment history, the deposition admissions. A plaintiff moving on its own claim must prove every element; a defendant may either disprove one element of the plaintiff's claim or prove every element of an affirmative defense. Under the rewritten Rule 166a(b)(3)(A) a traditional motion may be filed at any time after the nonmovant has appeared or answered, unless the court has set a deadline.

No-evidence motion

A no-evidence motion flips the burden. The movant states the elements of the other side's claim or defense on which there is no evidence, and the court must grant the motion unless the respondent produces summary judgment evidence raising a genuine issue of material fact on each challenged element. The movant does not attach proof; the respondent must. Under Rule 166a(b)(3)(B) the motion may be filed only after adequate time for discovery, which courts measure against the discovery period and what the respondent has had a fair chance to obtain. A motion may combine both types and must say so in its title.

The no-evidence motion is a defendant's tool against a thin claim. Fraud, fiduciary duty and lost-profit damages claims are its usual targets, because each has elements that require specific proof a plaintiff may not have gathered.

The 2026 timeline

The rewrite replaced deadlines counted backward from the hearing with deadlines counted forward from filing:

Dallas County adds a local requirement. A general order of the civil district courts signed March 2, 2026 provides that all summary judgment motions must be filed at least 90 days before the next trial setting absent leave of court, and that untimely motions are automatically denied. Because the hearing cannot occur within 35 days of filing, a motion aimed at the trial setting must be planned for well in advance.

What counts as evidence

Rule 166a(j) lists it: deposition transcripts, the opposing party's pleadings, interrogatory answers, admissions and other discovery responses, affidavits and declarations, stipulations and other authenticated evidence. An affidavit must be on personal knowledge, state admissible facts and show the affiant is competent; documents it refers to must be attached and sworn or certified. Discovery not on file may be used if filed or specifically referenced with the motion or response. Defects in form must be objected to and the other side given a chance to amend, or the objection is lost. The court may consider late-filed evidence if it says so on the record.

For a business this means the summary judgment record is built during discovery. Admissions in a deposition, a clean set of authenticated contracts and a well-drafted affidavit from the person who knows the facts are what win these motions. The groundwork is described in what discovery is in a business lawsuit.

Partial summary judgment

A motion may address one claim, one defense or one issue, and the court may grant judgment on the issues expressly set out in the motion while leaving the rest for trial. Rule 166a(h)(4) also lets the court, when it does not grant the relief requested, specify the facts that are established as a matter of law. Partial rulings are common in commercial cases: liability decided on the contract, damages left for the jury; a limitations defense rejected so the case proceeds; a fraud claim dismissed so the case becomes a pure contract dispute. Each narrows what remains and changes the settlement value.

What it costs and what it buys

A summary judgment motion is a substantial brief, an evidence appendix, a response and reply, and a hearing or submission. Preparing one is one of the larger single expenses in a case. What it buys is either an end to the claim without a trial or a judicial ruling that narrows the case and often prompts settlement. Where it is denied, the work is not wasted: the evidence is organized for trial and the court's reasoning shows where the real fact dispute lies. Whether to move, and on what, is a judgment call that weighs the strength of the record against the cost, discussed further in how much a business lawsuit costs in Dallas.

Appeals

A summary judgment that disposes of the entire case is a final judgment and can be appealed like any other. A partial summary judgment is interlocutory and is reviewed after the final judgment unless the court severs it. On appeal the court of appeals reviews the ruling de novo, applying the same standard the trial court did, and a denial is generally not reviewable by appeal. Appealing a business case in Texas covers the deadlines.

Example

Suppose a Dallas equipment lessor sues a restaurant group for the balance due under a written lease after the group stopped paying and returned the equipment. The group's answer pleads that a salesperson orally promised it could cancel at any time. The lease contains a merger clause and a no-oral-modification clause. After the group's owner admits in deposition that he signed the lease and read those clauses, the lessor files a combined motion: a traditional motion on the contract claim with the lease, the payment ledger and the deposition excerpts, and a no-evidence motion on the group's fraud defense for lack of evidence of a false statement of fact. The group has 21 days to respond with evidence; the hearing is set six weeks out; the court grants judgment on liability and the unpaid balance and sets the attorney's fee claim for a short bench trial.

Tina Wysk files and defends summary judgment motions in commercial cases in Dallas County and the Northern District of Texas and builds the discovery record with that motion in view.