Posted: February 8, 2007
Rules of Civil Procedure
URCP 016. Pretrial conferences, scheduling, and management conferences. Amend. Coordinates sanction provisions with those in Rule 35 and Rule 37. Adopt the federal provisions governing discovery of electronically stored information. Proposed effective date: November 1, 2007.
URCP 023A. Derivative actions by shareholders. Renumber and amend. Renumbers the rule to conform to Supreme Court protocol. Amends the rule to more clearly delineate the content of the petition. Proposed effective date: November 1, 2007.
URCP 026. General provisions governing discovery. Amend. Adopt the federal provisions governing discovery of electronically stored information. Proposed effective date: November 1, 2007.
URCP 033. Interrogatories to parties. Amend. Adopt the federal provisions governing discovery of electronically stored information. Proposed effective date: November 1, 2007.
URCP 034. Production of documents and things and entry upon land for inspection and other purposes. Amend. Adopt the federal provisions governing discovery of electronically stored information. Proposed effective date: November 1, 2007.
URCP 035. Physical and mental examination of persons. Amend. Coordinates sanction provisions with those in Rule 16 and Rule 37. Proposed effective date: November 1, 2007.
URCP 037. Failure to make or cooperate in discovery; sanctions. Amend. Creates sanctions for spoliation of evidence. Coordinates sanction provisions with those in Rule 16 and Rule 35. Adopt the federal provisions governing discovery of electronically stored information. Proposed effective date: November 1, 2007.
URCP 045. Subpoena. Amend. Require person scheduling deposition to give advance notice before serving subpoena. Permit person serving subpoena rather than recipient to decide whether records should be copied and delivered or delivered for inspection and copying. Requires advance payment of costs upon request. Clarifies the grounds and procedures for objecting to a subpoena. Requires declaration under penalty of perjury to accompany documents produced under a subpoena. Adopt the federal provisions governing discovery of electronically stored information. Delete committee note. Proposed effective date: November 1, 2007.
URCP Form 40. Subpoena. Repeal & Reenact. Subpoena, Notice of Rights, Objection. Proposed effective date: November 1, 2007.
URCP 101. Motion practice before court commissioners. Amend. Permit motion for default judgment to be heard by the court commissioner. Technical amendments. Proposed effective date: November 1, 2007.
URCP 106. Modification of divorce decrees. Amend. Expand to include modification of any final domestic relations order. Proposed effective date: November 1, 2007.
Re: Rule 101. Is there any interest in amending Rule 101 to eliminate the requirement that even unopposed motions before commissioners be subject to a hearing? Mandatory hearings on unopposed motions appears to me as worse than futile for both litigants and the court.
I support the modification of URCP 37 to include a specific reference to sanctions for destruction or spoliation of evidence. The courts should be more actively involved in both preventing spoliation – through appropriate preservation and disclosure orders, CMOs, etc. – and in sanctioning spoliation/destruction when it comes to light.
I would even like to see the rule expanded to not just rely on the existence of a duty to preserve elsewhere, but affirmatively state a duty to preserve, for a reasonable time, evidence that is reasonably likely to be pertinent to an action when a party knows or should reasonably anticipate that a legal claim has been or likely will be brought.
Thanks for your efforts.