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 Missouri, the summary judgment process is a legal mechanism that allows a court to promptly resolve a lawsuit without a trial when there are no disputed material facts and the case can be decided on legal issues alone. This process is governed by Rule 74.04 of the Missouri Rules of Civil Procedure. A party may file a motion for summary judgment after the discovery phase has revealed the essential facts of the case. If the court finds that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law, it will grant summary judgment. This effectively ends the case in favor of the moving party. The use of summary judgment does not infringe upon the constitutional right to a jury trial, as it is only applied in situations where factual disputes are absent and a jury trial would not be necessary to resolve the legal questions presented.