“Summary judgment and summary adjudication motions enable a court to determine that the opposing party’s pleadings lack evidentiary support and to limit or terminate the action accordingly: “The purpose of the law of summary judgment is to provide courts with a mechanism to cut through the parties’ pleadings in order to determine whether, despite their allegations, trial is in fact necessary to resolve their dispute.”
[California Practice Guide: Civil Procedure Before Trial [certain citations omitted]]
