Tyson v. The Town of Ramapo

Background

Defendants’ motion for summary judgment, Tyson’s opposition, and defendants’ reply papers had been filed. A summary-judgment motion asks the court to decide whether a claim can proceed based on the record, without a trial. The parties also submitted multiple versions of a Rule 56.1 statement, which presents the material facts asserted in connection with such a motion and the opposing party’s responses.

The court found that the submissions were unclear. The version that appeared to contain all parties’ responses was Doc. 107-1, but it also contained a separate counterstatement whose numbering began again at one. The statement also referred to Bates numbers and other documents that did not appear to be part of the record submitted to the court. Some references lacked an exhibit letter, Bates number, or another identifying citation.

Court’s Order

The court ordered the parties to meet and confer and file a revised Rule 56.1 statement by April 28, 2023. The revised filing had to correct the numbering so that the factual statements continued sequentially, use exhibit letters or numbers and electronic-court-filing page numbers for citations, and refer only to evidence that had been submitted to the court.

The court further directed that, if the parties relied on evidence not yet submitted, they had to file supplemental affidavits attaching those documents as exhibits. The supplemental exhibits were to continue the existing exhibit sequence. The court did not rule on the merits of defendants’ summary-judgment motion in this order; it required corrected and complete motion materials first.