In November 2014, then-Chief Administrative Judge A. Gail Prudenti amended the Uniform Civil Rules of the Supreme and County Courts by adding 22 NYCRR §202.5(e), which expressly mandates the protection of confidential personal information (CPI) in papers filed with the courts. While the intent behind the amendment was noble—the protection of CPI in a world increasingly plagued by technology-based consumer fraud—many attorneys are unilaterally expanding the express text and intention of the section by withholding CPI not only from documents filed with the courts, but from all documents exchanged during discovery.
This article looks at the courts’ minimal treatment of this issue, the disconcerting statistics that fostered the section’s enactment, and the alarming trend of attorneys abusing the section by withholding discoverable information.
