Litigation

Proposed changes to federal time computation rules

By Matt Hedberg

The U. S. Supreme Court has approved proposed amendments on the computation of time under the Federal Rules of Appellate, Bankruptcy, Civil, and Criminal Procedure.  The amendments will take effect on December 1, 2009, unless Congress unexpectedly enacts legislation to reject, modify, or defer them.

The amendments are designed to simplify the time computation rules by counting intermediate weekend days and holidays. Under the present rules these days are sometimes counted and sometimes not.  In addition, most time periods shorter than 30 days are changed to multiples of 7 days so that deadlines will usually fall on weekdays.  The amendments also address electronic filing issues, such as the "inaccessibility" of the clerk's office and when a day "ends."

The Local Rules for the United States District Court for the District of Oregon are expected to change to conform to the new rules.  The changes to the Local Rules are expected to go into effect on or around December 1, 2009.

Full post as published by Northwest Business Litigation Blog on August 22, 2009 (boomark / email).