PROPOSED DISCOVERY RULE FOR COMMERCIAL CASES

From a press release from OCA in June (italics supplied):

"The Commercial Division Advisory Council has recommended adoption of a new Rule of
the Commercial Division that would establish a presumptive limit of 10 depositions for each side
and limit the duration of depositions to seven hours per witness (Exh. A). The Advisory
Council's proposal follows up on the 2012 Report of the Chief Judge's Task Force on
Commercial Litigation in the 21' Century, which endorsed the limitations on depositions set
forth in the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. The Advisory Council's proposed limit of 10
depositions per side is consistent with Fed. Rule Civ. P. 30(a)(2)(A)(i) and procedural rules of
other states. The seven hour durational limit is consistent with Fed. Rule Civ. P. 30(d)(1) and
would allow for reasonable breaks for lunch and other reasons. To ensure that litigants and
judges have flexibility to tailor the presumptive limitations to the circumstances of each case, the
parties would be able to extend or alter the presumptive limits by agreement. Absent such an
agreement, the party seeking a variance would be required to obtain an appropriate court order
upon a showing of good cause. The Advisory Council believes that this proposal will improve
the efficiency of discovery and reduce the overall cost of litigation.
Persons wishing to comment on this proposal should e-mail their submissions to
rulecomments@nycourts.gov or write to: John W. McConnell, Esq., Counsel, Office of Court
Administration, 25 Beaver Street, 11th Fl., New York, New York 10004. Comments must be
received no later than August 19, 2014.
All public comments will be treated as available for disclosure under the Freedom of
Information Law and are subject to publication by the Office of Court Administration.
Issuance of a proposal for public comment should not be interpreted as an endorsement of
that proposal by the Unified Court System or the Office of Court Administration."