Supreme Court of Florida Adopts Amendments to Civil Rules to Address e-Discovery

On July 5, 2012, the Supreme Court of Florida adopted amendments to the Florida Rules of Civil Procedure to address the discovery of electronically stored information.  The amendments will become effective September 1, 2012 at 12:02 a.m.

The amendments will affect seven rules of civil procedure: “1.200 (Pretrial Procedure); 1.201 (Complex Litigation); 1.280 (General Provisions Governing Discovery); 1.340 (Interrogatories to Parties); 1.350 (Production of Documents and Things and Entry Upon Land for Inspection and Other Purposes); 1.380 (Failure to Make Discovery; Sanctions); and 1.410 (Subpoena).”

The court’s order, available below, provides both a short discussion of the relevant changes and the text of the new rules as adopted, including committee notes which, although not adopted as an official part of the rules, do provide valuable insight into their meaning and intended use.

A copy of the court’s order adopting the amendments is available here.