The Proposed FRCP Discovery Amendments and Your Coverage Case
Jenny Meeker spoke at the ABA Tort Trial & Insurance Practice Section's Insurance Coverage Litigation Committee Program in Phoenix, Arizona on a panel entitled, "The Proposed FRCP Discovery Amendments and Your Coverage Case."
On August 15, 2013, the Committee on Rules of Practice and Procedure of the Judicial Conference of the United States published the Preliminary Draft of Proposed Amendments to the Federal Rules of Bankruptcy and Civil Procedure, which the United States Supreme Court approved, and submitted to Congress for final approval, on April 29, 2015. The proposed amendments likely will have far-reaching effects, particularly regarding the scope of discovery, sanctions for spoliation, the timing of document productions, and how scheduling conferences are to be conducted. Absent legislation rejecting, modifying, or deferring the implementation of the amendments, they will become effective on December 1, 2015.
This panel discussed the impact of the proposed amendments on coverage cases litigated in federal court and provided suggestions on how best to comply with these changes from the perspectives of the judiciary, counsel for insureds, counsel for insurers, and an eDiscovery engineer.
