Pennsylvania Amends Rules to Incorporate Discovery of Electronically Stored Information
Last week, Pennsylvania became the most recent state to amend its civil rules to address the discovery of electronically stored information. Unlike many other states, however, Pennsylvania’s Civil Procedural Rules Committee has made clear in its explanatory comment that despite the adoption of the term “electronically stored information,” “there is no intent to incorporate federal jurisprudence surrounding the discovery of electronically stored information.” Instead, “[t]he treatment of such issues is to be determined by traditional principles of proportionality under Pennsylvania law . . . .” The comment goes on to more fully discuss the “Proportionality Standard” and its application to electronic discovery, as well as “Tools for Addressing Electronically Stored Information,” including, for example, “sampling, cost sharing and non-waiver agreements.”