FRCP Preservation Rule Update

Today's Law Technology News article, "Federal Judicial Advisory Committee Ponders New E-Discovery Rules," reports on the Civil Rules Advisory Committee’s March 22-23, 2012, meeting in Ann Arbor, Mich. Of particular interest to EDD practioners is the work of the discovery subcommittee on a uniform rule for spoliation sanctions.

The preservation debate is intense. The Department of Justice tells the subcommittee that any change to the preservation rule is premature, while the Lawyers for Civil Justice urgently call on the subcommittee to move forward aggressively on broad-based discovery and preservation rules reform.

The formal process requiring Supreme Court approval and Congressional notice takes time. See Patrick Oot's "Rules Road Map a Quick Guide to How E-Discovery Rules Are Updated." Even if the committee is able to reach a consensus and resolve the considerable number of substantive issues identified by the subcommittee and commentators, a spoliation sanctions rule would not likely be effective before December 2015.

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