Court Not Ruling on Motions

[GulfCoastKid]

My question involves court procedures for the state of: Mississippi

I am a pro se plaintiff in a circuit court case. The defendant is also pro se. Defendant filed a motion for summary judgment. In the response, I asked for oral arguments. The hearing was put on the docket 60 days out and was supposed to take place next week. Today, the judge's assistant emailed saying she has removed it from the docket, because she was informed only the one filing the motion is allowed to request oral arguments. This was news to me, as I could not find this in the rules.

In the motion, defendant is claiming lack of jurisdiction. I need a ruling on this, as the statute of limitations for the action is creeping up. My question is: What is the best way to nudge the judge to rule soon?

Thanks in advance.

[Dogmatique]

It's very clear that you need an attorney.

You can't manage this yourself - and if you lose, you should expect to pay the other party's legal costs. Are you okay with that?

[GulfCoastKid]

Yes, sir, I am okay with that. What I am not okay with is a canned answer to a pro se litigant that reads, "get a lawyer". This is not my first time around. I have been protecting my interests as a pro se litigant for quite some time. Three cases. Three wins. All against attorneys. I came here seeking advice for the best way to hurry things along, not a lecture.

[Dogmatique]

Yes, sir, I am okay with that.

It's Ma'am, actually.

What I am not okay with is a canned answer to a pro se litigant that reads, "get a lawyer".

Luckily for you, I only ever say that when it's crystal clear that the pro se litigant is in over his or her head as is obviously the case here. A very simple bit of research would have told you that you're out of your league on this one.

This is not my first time around. I have been protecting my interests as a pro se litigant for quite some time. Three cases. Three wins. All against attorneys. I came here seeking advice for the best way to hurry things along, not a lecture.

You received no lecture.

[Conrad Hunter]

Did you file a brief in response to the motion for summary judgment? Was there a reply brief?

Generally the party filing the motion is the one that schedules it for oral argument. If there is a challenge to jurisdiction, I would assume the party is not local and couldn't appear for the hearing.

You could, if there is time, file your own motion for summary judgment and get it scheduled as quickly as possible.

Your best option was just to brief your opposition to the jurisdiction issue really well and hopefully the controlling case law is on your side. You needed to give the judge something really solid to hang your hat on.

I don't see you have any real option to get oral argument on someone else's motion.

[cmre3456]

Yes, sir, I am okay with that. What I am not okay with is a canned answer to a pro se litigant that reads, "get a lawyer". This is not my first time around. I have been protecting my interests as a pro se litigant for quite some time. Three cases. Three wins. All against attorneys. I came here seeking advice for the best way to hurry things along, not a lecture.

There's no reason to hurry things along. If you filed your action before the SOL expired you are good.

It sounds possible that you didn't file a detailed response to the request for summary judgment. The clerk may have given you just one reason for cancelling the hearing. It's not the clerk's job to give you advice if you don't ask about the rules. The clerk can't give you legal advice.

As already stated, if there's still time, file a response. Go ahead and request a hearing on your response. It may be that you are entitled to a hearing only with your responsive filing. If you didn't file a detailed argument against the summary judgment then you aren't entitled to anything. The judge will have one side's argument only and you'll probably lose.

You do need an attorney.

[GulfCoastKid]

As already stated, if there's still time, file a response. Go ahead and request a hearing on your response. It may be that you are entitled to a hearing only with your responsive filing.

Thanks for the replies. I did file a response to the motion for summary judgment and did request a hearing within that response. The judge's assistant called me to set a date, but later removed it from the calendar, stating she was informed only the mover could request a date.

Your best option was just to brief your opposition to the jurisdiction issue really well and hopefully the controlling case law is on your side. You needed to give the judge something really solid to hang your hat on.

The reply brief contained a solid case for jurisdiction with case law cited.

There's no reason to hurry things along. If you filed your action before the SOL expired you are good.

If the judge ignores the case law and does not award jurisdiction, I will be filing in federal court. As I understand it, a new action in federal court must be filed within the SOL.

[Conrad Hunter]

As described, this is a jurisdiction issue not really an SOL, though that is always a concern.

I assume you are then going with diversity of citizenship. You do know of course that the amount in controversy must be $75,000 or more and that can't include punitives or something like emotional distress. The only way around that is an action where the US Court has original jurisdiction like trademark, patent, and other specific federal statutes, plus of course 42 USC 1983 and other civil rights claims.

The other problem with diversity and state law claims of action, is the federal court uses that state's laws to decide the case. It might help with jurisdiction of course, if you are now having problems with long arm jurisdiction in Miss, which is what it sounds like.

In an appeal either side can ask for oral argument in the initial brief or the answer brief. That does not work for motions in any state where I am aware of civil rules of procedure as only the movant (the party filing the motion) can request oral argument for it. Found that to be the case in federal court too. You can only file a Notice of Hearing for your own motions and the notice has to be coordinated with the other side. Of course, you have to get it on the motions calendar or schedule it for an already chosen hearing date.

One way to stall a MSJ is to file an affidavit attesting to a lack of discovery and saying that you need discovery to prove the minimal contacts etc. needed to oppose the issue in the MSJ, in your case jurisdiction. That will force a hearing on the MSJ. Do some research and find out how to write that properly in your state. It can't be just conclusionary.

[GulfCoastKid]

A hearing was held for SJ and my case survived. It went to trial and I was successful.

I would like to thank all that have posted in this thread, especially Dogmatique. She gave me the motivation I needed.