E-Everything coming in FLA.

Effective September 1, 2012, E-Discovery amendments to the following
existing Florida Rules of Civil Procedure become effective: 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). These rules will now include Electronically Stored Information or ESI. See Florida Supreme Court E-Discovery amendments opinion at--
http://www.floridasupremecourt.org/decisions/2012/sc11-1542.pdf

Additionally, mandatory E-service begins September 1st in civil, probate,
small claims, and family law divisions of the trial courts, as well as in
all appellate cases. Under Florida Rule of Judicial Administration 2.516,
service by E-mail is deemed complete when sent. E-mail service is made by attaching a copy of the document to be served in PDF format. The E-mail must contain the subject line "SERVICE OF COURT DOCUMENT" in all capital letters, followed by the case number of the relevant proceeding. The body of the E-mail must identify the court in which the proceeding is pending, the case number, the name of the initial party on each side, the title of each document served, and the sender’s name and telephone number. The E-mail and attachments together may not exceed 5 megabytes in size or must be divided into separate e-mails (no one of which may exceed 5 megabytes) and labeled sequentially in the subject line. When the rules take effect on September 1, attorneys practicing in the criminal, traffic, and juvenile divisions of the trial court may voluntarily choose to serve documents by e-mail under the new procedures, or they may continue to operate under the existing rules. E-mail service will be mandatory for attorneys practicing in these divisions on October 1, 2013. See E-Service opinion at--
http://www.floridasupremecourt.org/decisions/2012/sc10-2101.pdf

Finally, all 67 county clerks of court have been directed to accept
E-filings through the statewide e-portal in the civil divisions and new
electronic filing requirements will become effective in the civil, probate,
small claims, and family law divisions of the trial courts, as well as for
appeals to the circuit courts in these categories of cases, on April 1,
2013. As civil ECF is well-established in Orange County, this is nothing
new. Next, the new electronic filing requirements the Court adopts will
become effective in the criminal, traffic, and juvenile divisions of the trial courts, as well as for appeals to the circuit court in these categories of cases, on October 1, 2013. See E-filing opinion at-- http://www.floridasupremecourt.org/decisions/2012/sc11-399.pdf

E-Discovery Education

Just a note that I will be speaking about Florida's civil procedure rule amendments addressing ESI at the Technology Committee of the Orange County Bar Association (OCBAnet.org) at noon tomorrow, Thursday, July 19, 2012.  I am also speaking as a panelist in a national webinar for the Association of Certified E-Discovery Specialists® or ACEDS.org which will take place at 1 pm EST on August 3, 2012 online. I will also be presenting regarding the new rule amendments during the OCBA's Family Law Committee CLE on September 21, 2012. Look for future speaking engagements as the campaign to educate bench and bar about the effect of these changes continues.

About the Speaker, Lawrence Kolin, Esq. - A full-time neutral and Supreme Court of Florida Certified Circuit-Civil and Appellate Mediator, in Winter Park, Florida, he handles alternative dispute resolution of complex multi-party cases involving professional liability, construction, technology, real estate, employment and contract disputes. Now a qualified arbitrator, he frequently practiced in state and federal courts in diverse areas of civil trial work including business, commercial and patent litigation. Previously, he was a partner in a statewide firm, trying cases in insurance, intellectual property, health care, and medical malpractice, among other areas. He earned a political science degree from Trinity College in Connecticut and a law degree from the University of Miami School of Law, where he was Executive Editor of the Entertainment & Sports Law Review. Mediating since 2001, he is AV® Rated and member of the National Academy of Distinguished Neutrals. He served as founding Chair of the Florida Bar Civil Procedure Rules Subcommittee on Electronic Discovery which drafted new rules becoming effective September 1, 2012.

E-Discovery Rules Effective FL September 1st

The Supreme Court of Florida's opinion just out today adopts amendments to civil rules as previously outlined in my blog below. See full decision here: http://www.floridasupremecourt.org/decisions/2012/sc11-1542.pdf
Six years in the making! Now begins the education campaign for bench and bar. Effective September 1, 2012 are amendments to seven existing Florida civil procedure rules: 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). This is the culmination of a six-year effort initially chaired by me and with the help of members of my subcommittee of lawyers and judges and the Civil Rules Standing Committee of the Florida Bar. These rules will further allow for the ability for neutrals to play a role in dispute resolution of ESI issues in state court cases. 

"This is the culmination of a rigorous effort to modernize procedure in Florida to include electronically stored information,” attorney Lawrence Kolin, of Winter Park, founding chair of the e-discovery rules committee, told told the Association of Certified E-Discovery Specialists®. See ACEDS Bulletin here - http://aceds.org/news/florida-ediscovery-rules-take-effect-september-1

E-opinions leave out e-discovery rules - electronic service & filing only

In a pair of opinions, the Supreme Court of Florida formally adopted proposed amendments to the Florida rules of court to implement mandatory electronic filing procedures for all documents filed in Florida’s courts. The proposed amendments represent a significant and important step toward the goal of a fully electronic court system by transitioning from permissive to mandatory electronic filing or e-filing. Also in furtherance of this goal, in a separate, related case the justices adopted amendments to the rules of court to require e-mail service of pleadings and documents between parties. All 67 county clerks of court have been directed to be prepared to accept e-filings through the statewide e-portal in the civil divisions by July 1, 2012-- but a subsequent filing by the E-Filing Authority indicates several clerks are still experiencing difficulties that would prevent them from accepting electronic filings on that date. Any clerk may submit a request with the Florida Supreme Court to delay the effective date of these rules in any division or court.  If such a request is granted, an Administrative Order will be issued and published. However, mandatory e-service under Florida Rule of Judicial Administration 2.516 will begin July 1st September 1st for attorneys practicing in the civil, probate, small claims, and family law divisions of the trial courts, as well as in all appellate cases. Service by e-mail is deemed complete when the e-mail is sent. Additionally, e-mail service is made by attaching a copy of the document to be served in PDF format to an e-mail.  The e-mail must contain the subject line "SERVICE OF COURT DOCUMENT" in all capital letters, followed by the case  number of the relevant proceeding.  The body of the e-mail must identify the court  in which the proceeding is pending, the case number, the name of the initial party  on each side, the title of each document served with that e-mail, and the sender’s name and telephone number.  The e-mail and attachments together may not exceed 5 megabytes in size; e-mails that exceed the size requirement must be divided into separate e-mails (no one of which may exceed 5 megabytes) and labeled sequentially in the subject line. Given the delay from oral argument last year to passage of these e-rules, it is possible electronic discovery rule amendments in Florida argued earlier this year may be adopted later than expected. That would be consistent with comments made regarding the need for educating the bench and bar on the proposals to include ESI in existing civil rules.

See full opinions here -

http://www.floridasupremecourt.org/decisions/2012/sc10-2101.pdf

http://www.floridasupremecourt.org/decisions/2012/sc11-399.pdf

UPDATE: CORRECTED OPINION ISSUED 6-26-12 - http://www.floridasupremecourt.org/decisions/2012/sc10-2101_Order_06-26-2012.pdf

The Court sua sponte amends its opinion to change the mandatory date for e-mail service in the civil, probate, small claims, and family law divisions of the trial courts, as well as in all appellate cases, from July 1, 2012, to September 1, 2012! 

SECOND CORRECTED OPINION ISSUED 6-28-12 - http://www.floridasupremecourt.org/decisions/2012/sc10-2101.pdf

Proposed amendment for taxation of ESI costs

The Florida Bar's Civil Procedure Rules Standing Committee is inviting comments on its proposed three-year cycle amendments to the Florida Rules of Civil Procedure. Included in these is an amendment to the Uniform Guidelines for the Taxation of Costs to include electronically stored information or ESI, as has been previously proposed and incorporated into existing language for purposes of bringing electronic discovery rules still absent in Florida's Rules of Civil Procedure.

Uniform Guidelines on Taxation of Costs

28-0-1

Adds provisions for taxation of costs for discovery of electronically stored information.

The number above signifies the vote of committee members. A full text of the proposals can be found on The Florida Bar’s website at www.FloridaBar.org. Interested persons have until August 1, 2012, to submit comments to the committee chair, Hon. Richard Nielsen, nielsera@fljud13.org and to the Bar staff liaison, Ellen Sloyer, at esloyer@flabar.org. See The Florida Bar News notice here: http://bit.ly/Lfxbv9

Neutrals may ease anxiety over Florida’s new E-discovery rules

This podcast featuring my commentary just in from an interview with the Association of Certified E-Discovery Specialists (ACEDS) Editorial Director, Robert Hilson: On March 7, the Florida Supreme Court heard argument on proposed E-discovery rules for state cases, the first such rules for the fourth largest state. The court has put them on fast track, and could approve them by the end of the year. The rules will affect the state’s diverse legal and corporate community and its 63,000 active attorneys. They aim to streamline case management, but they will also impose unfamiliar burdens on practitioners who are new to e-discovery. Neutral third parties, such as special masters, mediators and referees, may be able to assist in these instances. These so-called “neutrals” can shape discovery plans, allocate costs and suggest and create efficiencies that did not exist. Their services are not limited to grappling with old or new rules, or to discovery disputes. Lawrence Kolin, an Orlando lawyer and full-time mediator, chaired the Florida Bar committee that helped craft the e-discovery rules the Supreme Court is considering. In this ACEDS podcast, he tells how neutrals can help litigants navigate e-discovery pitfalls and resolve expensive battles before they arise. “I try to focus parties on the merits and try to get them off using e-discovery as a sword or shield,” says Kolin. “Mediation is an avenue that can present parties with significant cost-savings if performed early enough in the litigation.”
Podcast introduction:
http://aceds.org/aceds-ediscovery-mediation-podcast-with-lawrence-kolin
Listen to .mp3 here:
http://aceds.org/sites/default/files/ACEDS%20Mediation%20Podcast%20with%20Neutral%20Lawrence%20Kolin.mp3

ACEDS 2012 and Florida's Forthcoming Rules

I spent the last couple of days at the national annual conference of the Association of Certified E-Discovery Specialists (ACEDS). There were many vendors, attorneys and even court personnel attending. Of particular interest was a pilot program developed by Clerk of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania, Robert Barth. That court has identified special masters and e-neutrals as fulfilling the need to effectively address issues presented by the preservation, collection and production of relevant Electronically Stored Information (ESI) during the litigation process. The parties in those cases reportedly benefit from the appointment of Electronic Discovery Special Masters (EDSMs) in appropriate cases. Any findings of fact or conclusions of law reached by the EDSM will be presented to the court as a report and recommendation, to which the parties will have the opportunity to object, prior to a de novo review by the court (see details at - http://www.pawd.uscourts.gov/Pages/ediscovorey.htm).  Florida's draft rules do include a case management topic of optional appointment of special magistrates in the event such issues need to be referred.  This was discussed during an ACEDS panel I served on with my successor on the Florida Civil Rules Committee, Kevin Johnson. We also spoke on the likelihood of a decision from the Supreme Court of Florida concerning the proposed amendments to the Florida Rules of Civil Procedure and any time frame for implementation. Given the largely friendly reception during oral argument, it appears adoption of the language is imminent, but the forthcoming opinion could delay the effective date of the rules, given the Court's concern for educating the bench and bar.