Long awaited in e-discovery circles, today is the day that amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (FRCP) go into effect. These rule changes cover a number of different topics, including “reasonable” discovery requests (Rules 1 and 26(g)) and preservation (Rule 37(e)), that could change the course of how discovery is conducted in the United States.
However, the rule change that may ultimately have the biggest impact is the one concerning proportionality: Rule 26(b)(1). The amended rule, governing scope in discovery, places a higher emphasis on limiting discovery to that which is “proportional to the needs of the case.” The goal of the amended Rule is to eliminate “fishing expeditions” by encouraging a narrower scope.
