News & Updates

The Western District of Washington has amended its Local Civil Rules, which include their express purpose of promoting “the just, efficient, speedy, and economical determination of every action and proceeding.” Local Rule 26(f) states that the proportionality standard set forth in Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(b)(2)(C) “must be applied in every case when parties formulate a discovery plan and promulgate discovery requests.”

Alabama has passed legislation, SB 47 (Act 2012-492), which requires the Alabama Supreme Court to adopt expedited trial procedures for cases in circuit court where the amount in controversy does not exceed $50,000. In contrast, Louisiana also passed legislation, HCR 81, which requests the Louisiana State Law Institute study jury trial procedures and make recommendations for an expedited or summary jury trial program.

The Supreme Court of New Hampshire entered an order last week amending the Superior Court Proportional Discovery/Automatic Disclosure Pilot Project Rules to implement the PAD Pilot Rules in all counties beginning March 1, 2013.

Approximately one year ago, on November 1, 2011, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York implemented a Pilot Project Regarding Case Management Techniques for Complex Civil Cases. The Board of Judges has now extended the pilot project for an additional eighteen months, to expire September 30, 2014.

The Sedona Conference® has updated its Resources for the Judiciary, a reference manual for judges that is “intended to assemble and promote a variety of proven judicial management tools to help parties develop and execute appropriate, cost-effective, cooperative discovery plans; avoid unnecessary discovery disputes; and resolve discovery disputes that may arise in a fair and expeditious manner.”

The Northern District of California unveiled a new set of guidelines on Tuesday for the discovery of electronically stored information (ESI). The guidelines were developed by a bench-bar committee chaired by Magistrate Judge Elizabeth D. LaPorte in partnership with the Rules Committee. In addition to the guidelines, the court has also adopted an ESI checklist for use during the Rule 26(f) meet and confer process and a model stipulated order.

A Metropolitan Corporate Counsel article this week asks "Are Courts Beginning to Take Proportionality Seriously in E-Discovery?" As this article points out, “the tide may be changing” with a "variety of recent developments [that] demonstrate that courts are relying on the principle of proportionality with increasing frequency and vigor when assessing the scope and limits of e-discovery."

The Texas Supreme Court has issued its long-awaited rules for expedited actions this week, making the process mandatory in cases of $100,000 or less. The rules are being adopted as a result of Texas legislation that called upon the Court to promulgate "rules to promote the prompt, efficient, and cost-effective resolution of civil actions."

In a promised follow-up to his prior blog post on IAALS’ Third Civil Justice Reform Summit, Professor Jordan Singer of New England Law│Boston discusses the new set of civil rules in Utah, which were implemented a year ago today.

IAALS alum and panelist at IAALS’ Third Civil Justice Reform Summit Professor Jordan Singer, of New England Law│Boston, recently shared his reactions to the Summit at PrawfsBlawg. In addition to putting the Summit into context and providing a summary of the different state and federal pilot projects around the country, Professor Singer also urges courts and researchers to share raw data on reform efforts.