Opportunity to Comment on Proposed Change to Commercial Division Rules

The Office of Court Administration has asked for public comment on another proposed change to the rules of the Commercial Division.

The proposed new rule states that parties and nonparties "should adhere to the Commercial Division's Guidelines for Discovery of . . . ESI from Nonparties. Those

Guidelines were developed by the Advisory Council with input from, among others, the Chief Administrative Judge's Working Group on Electronic Discovery, for the stated purpose of improving the efficiency of e-discovery and reducing the potential costs and burdens imposed on non-litigants. Under the proposed Guidelines, parties are encouraged to reasonably limit their e-discovery requests based on consideration of an enumerated list of proportionality factors; nonparties are encouraged to issue prompt litigation holds, state objections with reasonable particularity and resolve disputes over ESI through informal methods other than motion practice; and parties and nonpaities are expected to meet and confer about the timing, scope and form of ESI production, and the requesting party's obligation to defray reasonable production expenses under the CPLR.

E-mail comments to rulecomments@nycourts.gov by May 28, 2014.