Highlighted Cases

Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317 (1986)

Catrett v. Johns-Manville Sales Corp., 826 F.2d 33 (D.C. Cir. 1987)

Celotex is one of the 1986 trilogy of summary judgment cases decided by the Supreme Court. It is one of the most cited cases in modern legal history.

Cormier v. District of Columbia Water and Sewer Auth., 959 A.2d 658 (D.C. 2008)

This appeal resulted in the reversal of summary judgment in a commercial action and the holding that declarations are “affidavits” for purposes of summary judgment proceedings.

Weakley v. Burnham Corp., 871 A.2d 1167 (D.C. 2005)

This landmark case established the summary judgment standard for District of Columbia asbestos personal injury cases.

Appellate

Baseball great Yogi Berra’s New York Yankees were losing a game in the bottom of the ninth inning. The opposing team’s catcher teased him: “It’s over, Yogi”. “No”, replied Berra. “It ain’t over ‘til it’s over.” And so it is with law. Many cases lost at the trial level are saved on appeal.

For more than thirty years, Peter T. Enslein has handled state and federal court appeals in the District of Columbia, Maryland and West Virginia and in the Supreme Court. Peter was among the team of lawyers who represented the respondent in Celotex v. Catrett in the Supreme Court and later successfully argued the case on remand. Celotex is the leading precedent on summary judgment and is among the most cited cases in modern legal history.

A lawyer’s lawyer, Peter is consulted on cases by lawyers throughout the country. He has won the vast majority of his appeals and his briefs are often quoted by the courts with approval. Peter has a growing appellate practice, taking appeals from other lawyers who represented the client at trial.