Oahn Nguyen Chung v. StudentCity.Com, Inc.

SELYA, Circuit Judge.

District courts have authority to enter summary judgment on grounds not raised by the parties. That authority, though, is far from unbridled. Here, the district court — with the acquiescence of the parties- — limited pretrial discovery to specific issues. It later entered summary judgment on a completely different issue — an issue not briefed and on which discovery had not been allowed. Concluding, as we do, that the district court’s shift in focus exceeded its authority, we vacate the judgment and remand for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

I. BACKGROUND

We…