Micah Fialka-Feldman’s fight to live on campus might come to an end sooner than planned.

Fialka-Feldman, a student in Oakland University’s OPTIONS program who has a mild cognitive impairment, filed a federal law suit in November 2008 against the OU board of trustees to live on campus.

The case has been in litigation since then, and the trial is scheduled to begin in January.

However, both parties filed for summary judgment last week.

Summary judgment is a process by which the presiding judge of the case, in this case Patrick Duggan, can make a decision without a trial by ruling that one side does not have sufficient evidence for their claim.

Fialka-Feldman’s chief lawyer, Chris Davis of Michigan Protection and Advocacy Services, said approximately 90-95 percent of all civil cases are either settled or decided by summary judgment.

“It’s really very rare that you see a case go all the way to trial,” Davis said. “The courts and both sides involved usually want to see these cases resolved as quickly as possible.”

Davis said that a host of evidence, including Fialka-Feldman’s housing contract after he was initially accepted into campus housing, seriously weakens OU’s case for revoking his admission.

“I really think we’ve a very good argument for summary judgment,” Davis said. “It’s not often you see the plaintiff file a motion like this, and I don’t want to make a prognostication, but our claim is on very solid ground.”

If Duggan were to rule in his favor, Fialka-Feldman would be allowed to live on campus until his graduation in May from the OPTIONS program.

Robert Boonin of Butzel Long Law Firm, who is the chief representative of OU in this case, filed for summary judgment at roughly the same time, because he believes Fialka-Feldman’s case is frivolous.

“We believe there is no legal merit to the claim,” Boonin said. However, Boonin also qualified his statement, “I can’t predict how the judge is going to rule.”

If the summary judgment moves forward as planned, a ruling on Micah Fialka-Feldman vs. Oakland University board of trustees could be rendered as early as the coming month.

For previous coverage on Fialka-Feldman, visit our archives.