Judge Peck Issues “Wake-up Call” Regarding Appropriate Responses to Discovery
Fischer v. Forrest, —F. Supp. 3d—, 2017 WL 773694 (S.D.N.Y. Feb. 28, 2017)
Judge Peck has “once again” issued a “discovery wake-up call,” this time regarding the effects of the 2015 amendments on the rules of discovery and in particular on Rule 34, addressing proper responses to requests for production. Specifically, the court noted that “one change that affects the daily work of every litigator is to Rule 34,” and instructed that “[m]ost lawyers who have not changed their ‘form file’ violate one or more (and often all three)” of the changes to the rule. Those changes require that “responses to discovery requests must”:
- State grounds for objections with specificity;
- An objection must state whether any responsive materials are being withheld on the basis of that objection; and
- Specify the time for production and, if a rolling production, when production will begin and when it will be concluded.
In these related cases, the court concluded that Defendants’ responses to discovery violated the discovery rules, including by failing to comply with the requirements of Rule 34(b) and failing to recognize and appropriately respond to the amendments to Rule 26(b)(1).