Crane on Law by James Crane

I hope that the era of fearmongering by plaintiff lawyers and e-discovery vendors regarding the amended federal rules is over. At Altep, we never used fear tactics to persuade our clients. We were prepared to meet all of the requirements set out in the Rules and our client’s litigation never missed a beat.

I don’t have much compassion for plaintiff lawyers that attempt to gain an advantage based on the greater burden on corporate defendants regarding the search and collection of ESI. I have spoken with several federal judges that frown upon the practice of “asking for the moon” in discovery requests in order to either move the case away from the issues or influence cost-based settlement.

I think every brief written regarding discovery should include a citation to one of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure that was not amended. The primary purpose of the Rules was discussed eloquently in In re Paris Air Crash:

The most important rule of all is the last sentence of [FRCP] 1, which provides that the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure ‘shall be construed to secure the just, speedy, and inexpensive determination of every action.’ It is this command that gives all the other rules life and meaning and timbre in the realist world of the trial court.

69 F.R.D. 310, 318 (C.D. Cal. 1975) (emphasis added). My message throughout last year was not to fear the amended rules, but rather to embrace them and be proactive. I think that is still a good message for 2008.