Legal News

Updates to the Federal Rules, Coming this December to a Courthouse Near You

By rdasgupta

It’s official. The Supreme Court, on April 28, 2010, approved proposed changes to the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure, Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure, Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure and the Federal Rules of Evidence.   Now that they have been approved by the Supreme Court, the changes will be effective December 1, 2010.

Here’s a list of the rules that were amended/added:

-Appellate Rules: 1, 4, and 29

-Bankruptcy Rules: 1007, 1014, 1015, 1018, 1019, 4001, 4004, 5009, 7001, 9001 and new Rule 5012

-Civil Rules: 8, 26, and 56

-Criminal Rules: 12.3, 21, and 32.1

-Evidence Rules: 804

The Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts has a terrific website with information on the rule-making process, copies of the amended rules, and a summary of the proposed changes.

Among the changes that caught our eye, were:

Fed. R. Civ. P. 26 — the amended rule extends work-product protection to the discovery of draft reports by testifying experts.

Fed. R. Civ. P. 56 — the amended rule requires party asserting that a fact cannot be genuinely disputed to provide a pin-point cite to the summary judgment record.

Fed. R. Crim. P. 21 –  the amended rule requires the court to consider the convenience of the victims as a factor when a party moves to transfer a case to a more convenient forum.

Full post as published by Fastcase Legal News on May 12, 2010 (boomark / email).