California Changes Summary Judgment Rules For First Time in Years

The rules governing motions for summary judgment in California are about to change. On July 15, 2024, AB 2049 was signed by Governor Newsom altering filing and notice requirements and enacting two notable restrictions with regard to summary judgment motions.

Specifically, a party will now be required to file a motion for summary judgment at least 81 days prior to the hearing on the motion, and increase of 6 days over the current requirement of 75 days. Additionally, the opposition papers must be filed 20 days prior to the hearing, with reply papers due 11 days before the hearing, each of these deadlines also reflecting a 6 day increase. Substantively, AB 2029 explicitly prohibits the filing of multiple summary judgment motions, absent leave of court, and prohibits discussion of any facts in a reply that were not introduced in the motion or opposition.

These new changes will take effect on January 1, 2025.

Pushing back the filing deadlines by 6 days will provide judges and their staff more time to review the final papers and will hopefully lead to more reasoned rulings that are not rushed or delayed. Conversely, the new rules will require parties to consider, prepare and file summary judgment motions even earlier than before, which could have downstream implications in counties that have strict reservation requirements with limited availability for hearing dates.