The summary judgment process provides a method of terminating a case before it is submitted to the jury when only questions of law are involved and there are no genuine issues of fact. When a party to a lawsuit cannot show that there is a fact issue for the jury to determine, the grant of summary judgment to the opposing party does not violate the constitutional right to a jury trial.

A summary judgment is often filed after the parties discover some facts in the discovery process, and one or both parties believe that the facts conclusively establish their right to prevail at trial, and that no reasonable jury could find the facts to be otherwise.

In Florida, the summary judgment process is governed by the Florida Rules of Civil Procedure, specifically Rule 1.510. This rule allows a party to seek a summary judgment from the court when there is no genuine issue of material fact and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. The purpose of summary judgment is to expedite litigation by eliminating cases or issues that do not need to be tried because there is no dispute over the important facts. The party seeking summary judgment must demonstrate that there are no genuine disputes of material fact and that they are entitled to judgment based on the undisputed facts. If the court finds that there is no genuine issue for trial, it can grant summary judgment and thereby avoid an unnecessary trial. This process does not violate the constitutional right to a jury trial because it is only used when there are no factual disputes that require a jury's determination. The summary judgment process in Florida was updated to align more closely with the federal standard, as per the amendments effective May 1, 2021, which emphasize that the court should state on the record the reasons for granting or denying the motion and that the burden of persuasion on the moving party is to show that there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact.