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FRCP Amendments Go Into Effect!
Practical Law Legal Update w-000-9153 (Approx. 5 pages)
FRCP Amendments Go Into Effect!
by Practical Law Litigation
| Published on 01 Dec 2015 • USA (National/Federal) |
On December 1, 2015, significant amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (FRCP) became effective. Although many of the amendments emphasize familiar themes (like cooperation and proportionality in discovery), the rule changes likely will impact federal practice in very important respects. Practical Law has updated all affected maintained litigation resources to help counsel immediately account for the new rules.
The recent amendments to the FRCP, which went into effect December 1, 2015, emphasize certain general themes including:
- Making discovery more proportional, narrowing the scope of discoverable information, and institutionalizing best practices for discovery requests and responses (see FRCP 26(b), 30(a)(2), 33(a)(1), 34).
- Limiting costly over-preservation of electronically stored information (ESI) (see FRCP 37(e)).
Nonetheless, the rules likely will alter federal practice in certain important respects. To assist counsel with getting up to speed quickly on the rule amendments, Practical Law has several resources that summarize and provide expert commentary on the new rules, including:
In addition, as soon as the changes went into effect, Practical Law revised impacted maintained litigation resources to incorporate the amendments and suggest guidance for practicing under the new regime.
Early Case Management
Several of the rule amendments promote early and active case management, including shortening several crucial deadlines and increasing the parties' responsibilities for active case management soon after commencing the lawsuit (see FRCP 1, 4(m), 16(b), 26(d), 26(f)). Counsel must account for these new rules immediately to avoid missing key deadlines and appearing unprepared before the court.
The following are examples of resources that now reflect these new early case management requirements:
The Permissive Scope of Discovery
The new rules also address the scope of discovery by encouraging proportionality and limiting unnecessary and unduly burdensome discovery requests (see FRCP 26(b), 30(a)(2), 33(a)(1), 34). In so doing, however, the amendments alter some of the tried and true rule language on which counsel previously have relied to seek broad discovery.
The following are examples of resources that now take into account these changes to discovery practice:
ESI Preservation
The amendments also clarify the standards governing the preservation and loss of ESI, making it easier for large data producers to decide to discard certain kinds of ESI without fear of being sanctioned (FRCP 37(e)). However, the amendments do not offer guidelines concerning the scope or duration of ESI preservation and, as a result, parties may continue to over-preserve data out of an abundance of caution.
Practical Law's vast e-discovery resources incorporate the new rules regarding ESI preservation, for example:
- Practice Note, Practical Tips for Preserving ESI