Civil Procedure II: Discovery and Trial Overview

Discovery Rules

  • Discovery in civil procedure is governed by several rules designed to facilitate the exchange of information between parties in litigation.
  • Key Rules:
    • Rule 26: Establishes overarching principles, procedures, and automatic disclosures.
    • Rule 30: Governs the taking of depositions.
    • Rule 32: Details the use of deposition transcripts.
    • Rule 33: Regulates interrogatories (written questions).
    • Rule 34: Covers requests to inspect documents and things.
    • Rule 35: Addresses medical and mental examinations.
    • Rule 36: Discusses requests for admission.
    • Rule 37: Outlines sanctions for failure to comply with discovery rules.

Initial Required Disclosures

  • General Rules:
    • Parties must disclose certain information without awaiting a discovery request.
    • No material may be used in trial if it was not disclosed unless justified or harmless.
    • Information required includes:
    • Persons with discoverable information
    • Documents and things relevant to the claims
    • Computations of damages
    • Insurance agreements pertinent to claims.

Expert Witness Disclosures

  • Expert witnesses (EWs) must be disclosed if they might be used at trial. Required disclosures include:
    • Their identity and written report
    • Opinions they will express
    • Bases for their opinions
    • Facts used to form their opinions
    • Their qualifications and compensation details.
  • Earlier drafts and communications regarding EWs are protected as work product.
  • Consulting Experts: Not intended for testimony; their materials are usually non-discoverable unless extraordinary circumstances arise.

Depositions

  • Depositions involve live testimony under oath, recorded verbatim;
    • Both parties and non-parties may be deposed.
    • Limitations include:
    • Maximum of 10 depositions
    • No deponent can be deposed more than once.
    • One day limit of 7 hours for each deposition.

Notice and Subpoena Requirements

  • For Parties: Notice of deposition suffices; subpoena not needed.
  • For Non-parties: Must be served with a subpoena; they can only be required to travel 100 miles from their home or office unless consent is given.

Interrogatories

  • Intend to gather information through written questions sent to parties only;
    • Maximum of 25 interrogatories (including subparts) unless the court allows more.
    • Response time: 30 days; must be based on reasonably available information.

Requests for Production

  • Requests to access documents or inspect property;
    • Must respond within 30 days, indicating what will be produced or asserting objections.

Requests for Admission

  • Parties may request admissions of certain facts which, if not denied, are deemed admitted.
  • Respond within 30 days; failure to deny may result in an automatic admission.

Discovery Scope and Limits

  • General scope:
    • Information must be non-privileged, relevant to claims/defenses, and proportional to the case.
    • Information need not be admissible to qualify as discoverable.
  • Considerations for Proportionality: Importance of issues, amount in controversy, access to information, parties’ resources, and burden versus benefit balance.

Electronic Discovery (e-discovery)

  • ESI is treated like traditional document discovery, encompassing:
    • Word processing documents, emails, spreadsheets, databases, among others.
  • Discovery may involve significant costs and complexities associated with data processing.

Privileged Materials and Work Product Doctrine

  • Attorney-Client Privilege: Protects confidential communications for legal advice.
  • Work Product Doctrine: Protects materials prepared in anticipation of litigation; qualified versus absolute protection based on the nature of the materials.

Discovery Disputes

  • Methods to address discovery disputes include:
    • Motion to Compel: Court order to disclose information.
    • Protective Order: Safeguards against overly intrusive disclosure.

Default Judgments

  • Entered when a party doesn't respond as required; steps include:
    1. Obtaining a default
    2. Obtaining a default judgment.
  • Can involve scenarios of lack of response, financial constraints, or strategic choices.

Summary Judgment

  • Available when no genuine dispute of material fact exists,
    • Two avenues for the moving party:
    1. Show absence of support for a necessary fact
    2. Present supporting evidence for claims favorably.

Preclusion

  • Claim Preclusion (Res Judicata): Prevents re-litigation of claims after a final judgment.
  • Issue Preclusion (Collateral Estoppel): Stops re-litigating issues previously determined in court.

Trials and Jury Selection

  • Seventh Amendment preserves the right to jury trials in certain cases; hybrid claims involve jury for legal claims, judge for equitable claims.
  • Jury selection includes guidelines for composition and challenges to jurors and processes.

Relief from Judgment

  • Governed by Rule 60(b),
    • Allows for relief for specific reasons such as clerical error, excusable neglect, or new evidence that could not have been discovered with due diligence.