Oral arguments set for proposed amendments to civil procedure rules ahead of January implementation
The amendments provided for court case management with early intervention, adherence to established deadlines, and reporting of case management data
The Supreme Court has set another round of oral arguments to consider proposed amendments to civil justice reforms, including a Civil Procedure Rules Committee proposal to add enforcement mechanisms to discovery rules.
The Supreme Court, in a May 23 order “In Re: Amendments to Florida Rules of Civil Procedure” Case No. 0962, issued a series of proposed amendments that take effect January 1, 2025.
The reforms grew out of a sweeping Judicial Management Council workgroup proposal that called for amending the Rules of General Practice and Judicial Administration, the Rules of Civil Procedure, and multiple other rule sets to promote the timely resolution of civil cases through effective case management.
The amendments provided for court case management with early intervention, adherence to established deadlines, and reporting of case management data. Because the court said additional refinements were needed, justices made a series of “phased referrals” to various rules committees and other panels for the “refinement and study” of the workgroup’s proposals.
To codify active case management, the court amended Rules of Civil Procedure 1.200 (Case Management; Pretrial Procedure), 1.201 (Complex Litigation), 1.280 (General Provisions Governing Discovery), 1.440 (Setting Action for Trial), and 1.460 (Motions to Continue Trial).
The court entirely rewrote Rule 1.200 to provide that each civil case must be assigned to one of three case management tracks (complex, general, or streamlined) within 120 days. Under rewritten Rule 1.200, the chief judge of each circuit is required to enter an administrative order addressing certain case management requirements.
“This approach allows each circuit to customize the process that works best for that circuit given the varying levels of volume, resources, and available automation,” the court said. “A circuit is free to require parties to file proposed case management orders, or a circuit may produce automated case management orders, among other possible customizations.”
For Rule 1.280, the court incorporated into the scope of discovery subdivision the proportionality language of Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 26(b)(1). Rule 1.280 was further amended to require certain initial discovery disclosures “within 60 days after the service of the complaint or joinder, unless a different time is set by court order.” The changes to Rule 1.280 also impose a duty to supplement discovery.
The court adopted a “modified combination” of the Civil Procedure Rules Committee’s alternate proposals after considering 55 public comments and holding an initial round of oral arguments on March 7. However, “[b]ecause the amendments we adopt today are substantially different than either alternative submitted by the committee,” the May 23 order set a 75-day public comment period.
On October 2, the Supreme Court issued an order setting another round of oral arguments for November 7. The Supreme Court also said it would treat the Civil Procedure Rules Committee’s proposed discovery amendments as a public comment.
Maegen Peek Luka, an Orlando attorney who chaired a subcommittee that drafted the alternative reform proposals, described the final round of public comments as an opportunity to “look over the synthesized version to make sure there are no ‘lumps in the mashed potatoes.’” Her final round of proposed refinements to Rules 1.200, 1.201, 1.280, 1.,440 (c), 1.460(d), includes a list of the names and Florida Bar numbers of 626 Florida attorneys who joined the comment.
At a September 20 meeting in New Orleans, the Board of Governors voted 35-1-0 to accept the Civil Procedure Rules Committee proposal to add enforcement mechanisms to discovery rules.
At issue, the sponsors say, is the proportionality language justices added to Rule 1.280. The committee is concerned that, without the proposed amendments, judges, and courts “will be flooded with blanket objections citing proportionality with no further explanation,” according to a staff analysis.
Michael Orr, a Jacksonville trial attorney who serves as a Civil Procedure Rules Committee liaison, told fellow board members that the committee felt compelled to act before the reforms take effect January 1.
“What the Florida Supreme Court has done is make rule changes that will begin January 1, but did not give the trial courts the ability and the framework that the federal court system has to sanction lawyers and sanction parties, as it relates to the discovery process.”
The committee is proposing amendments to Rules 1.340 (Interrogatories), 1.350 (Production of Documents and Things…), and 1.380 (Failure to Make Discovery), that would add enforcement language that generally tracks federal rules of civil procedure.
Despite the Supreme Court’s phased approach, the civil justice reforms will have a significant impact, Orr warned.
“For those of you that have talked to lawyers that practice in the civil realm and judges, there are many who are very worried about how this will work,” Orr said.
The concerns center on how the state courts, which process far more cases with fewer support personnel, can adapt to a federal model, Orr said.
“How will a judge in Orlando who has 3,000 cases on their docket actively manage a case? How will a lawyer who schedules four and five months on their calendar actively manage a case that would be similar to how cases in the federal court system are managed?”
Orr said civil trial attorneys expect the reforms to generate an “uptick” in malpractice complaints or Bar discipline cases.
This is “because of the active case management, the fact that deadlines aren’t going to be moved as easily as they may have been moved before, the fact that lawyers, maybe some who don’t try cases, are going to have to start trying cases, and they won’t get the continuances they have sought before.”
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