The subcommittee believes that the increasing reliance of modern communication and information storage on computers, e-mail, hand-held devices, and various forms of electronic documentation requires the Rules of Civil Procedure to be updated.
The subcommittee observes that there has been exponential growth in the volume of electronically-stored information that is held by parties to litigation, and believes that there has likewise been significant growth in the frequency with which litigants and courts have had to address issues related to the discoverability, retrieval, review, and production of electronically-stored information.
In developing these proposed changes, the subcommittee attempted to balance the
following core principles:
Enhancing predictability by tracking language and principles used in the
federal rules to the maximum extent possible so that existing precedents
can be applied by courts and parties;
Recognizing that procedure in state courts is nonetheless different than
practice in federal courts in significant ways, and that state rules must be
adapted to the greater variety of litigation found in state court;
Recognizing that the resources available to litigants or courts may be
different in state-court litigation than federal litigation;
Keeping discovery reasonable and cost-effective; preventing the cost and
burden of electronic discovery from being outcome-determinative;
Encouraging early, meaningful, and reasonable cooperation and
communication among parties to minimize the frequency with which
disputes must be resolved by the courts;
Avoiding alteration of existing precedents so that changes remain
procedural and not substantive; and
Avoiding unduly favoring either requesting parties or responding parties.
Federal Florida Subject
16(b) 1.200 Scheduling
26(b) 1.280 Scope
34 1.350 Requests
37 1.380 Sanctions
45 1.410 Subpoenas
