FRCP comments under review.

• Position: E-DISCOVERY - Federal Rules of Civil Procedure

The proposed changes to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure would require a party seeking discovery to establish that the requests are justified by the value and "importance" of the case; and they would limit the number of depositions, interrogatories, and requests for admissions.

A brief review of the comments received via hearings and written submissions didn't uncover any surprises. According to Alison Frankel in a Reuters.com posting, the comments revealed that defense lawyers and business groups praise the Judicial Conference (which presented the amendments) for attempting to reduce the burdens of discovery in civil litigation in the federal courts, while plaintiffs' lawyers expressed serious concern that proposed limits on depositions, interrogatories, and other discovery tools will exacerbate the challenge of acquiring legitimate information from defendants who don't want to surrender it.

In a Jan. 13 letter to the Committee on Rules of Practice and Procedures, U.S. District Judge Shira Scheindlin of the Southern District of New York questioned the need for and impact of some of the proposed changes...