The Amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure are now in effect. The Amended Rules apply to all federal cases filed after December 1, 2015, and to pending federal cases insofar as just and practicable. The Amendments are intended to increase cooperation and reduce the burden and expense of eDiscovery.
Click to view or download a chart outlining the Amended Federal Rules to help you immediately integrate them into your discovery practice, an excerpt of which is also below.
We will be monitoring decisions applying the Amendments, and will report on significant developments or trends in 2016.
| 26(b)(1) |
Discovery Scope and Limits -"Proportional to the needs of the case" |
Incorporates the limitations of previous Rule 26(b)(2)(C)(iii) into the scope of discovery in 26(b)(1), and removes previous language:
(1) Scope in General. Unless otherwise limited by court order, the scope of discovery is as follows: Parties may obtain discovery regarding any nonprivileged matter that is relevant to any party's claim or defense and proportional to the needs of the case, considering the importance of the issues at stake in the action, the amount in controversy, the parties' relative access to relevant information, the parties' resources, the importance of the discovery in resolving the issues, and whether the burden or expense of the proposed discovery outweighs its likely benefit. Information within this scope of discovery need not be admissible in evidence to be discoverable. —including the existence, description, nature, custody, condition, and location of any documents or other tangible things and the identity and location of persons who know of any discoverable matter. For good cause, the court may order discovery of any matter relevant to the subject matter involved in the action. Relevant information need not be admissible at the trial if the discovery appears reasonably calculated to lead to the discovery of admissible evidence. All discovery is subject to the limitations imposed by Rule 26(b)(2)(C).
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