Paralegals urged to ‘aggressively’ manage cases under new civil rules
Webinar offers guidance on initial discovery disclosures and conferral rules
Brean Salvo
Florida Registered Paralegal Brean Salvo, who specializes in plaintiff personal injury litigation at KL Injury Attorneys in Boca Raton, explains how to “aggressively” manage and move cases forward in compliance with the amendments to the Rules of Civil Procedure enacted in January.
The free webinar, “What the 2025 Civil Rule Changes Mean for Paralegals in 2026,” was originally presented on November 21 and is available for CLE credit on The Florida Bar’s website.
Salvo says case management conferences are meant to bring the parties together to “look at an entire case at one shot,” and “discovery obligations have changed dramatically.”
She has noticed that “cases move faster and better with these rules because judges are really digging through cases and making parties talk about issues.”
Since the new rules regarding initial discovery disclosure align with established mandatory disclosure practices in family law and federal courts, Salvo suggests personal injury paralegals may want to reach out to their colleagues who work in these areas for help.
Among her recommendations:
- Stay in contact with the client on a regular basis.
- Keep a running list of new information and evidence.
- Regularly review files and turn over new information and evidence to the other side.
- Give clear and complete responses to discovery, with specific objections.
- Communicate and confer when there is a discovery dispute and make sure your attorney has enough information to be able to make appropriate decisions about reasonable concessions, because the party that loses on a motion to compel pays attorney fees.
- Know your judges; sit in on hearings to learn how they handle court sessions and discovery issues so you can learn how to prepare your attorneys.
- Let your attorney know if you or the other side has any deficiencies in discovery.
- Create a hearing “cheat sheet” for your attorney that includes the docket of when expert witness lists are expected, when the case was served and filed, when the defendants were served, the discovery status, what remains to be done in the case, and any deadline issues. This is information a judge will likely ask for.
One of the biggest impacts is the changes to continuances.
“Trial deadlines and management are so strict; continuances are almost a thing of the past,” she cautions.
Citing Rule 1.460 (a) “lack of due diligence in preparing for trial is not grounds to continue the case” and (g): “If a continuance is granted based on the dilatory conduct of an attorney or named party, the court may impose sanctions on the attorney, the party or both.” Salvo goes on to offer guidance for requesting a continuance, noting the court may still issue sanctions against the party who causes it even if it is granted.
Salvo highlights several other civil rule changes important to paralegals. Following is a selection of information she covered.
Rule 1.200(j) Case Management Conferences – Attorneys are now expected to set case management conferences; a list of specific issues and pending motions must be included in their notice. Any hearing can be converted to a case management conference with agreement of the parties.
Rule 1.202 Conferral Requirements – Most motions require conferral prior to filing and certification at the time of filing. Some motions have conferral deadlines. Simply sending an email does not meet the requirement. Salvo offers a sample Certificate of Good Faith Conference, which shows that the parties conferred and if they narrowed the agreements or not. This is where an attorney would state that you were unable to reach opposing counsel.
Rule 1.202(d) warns of sanctions for failure to comply with conferral.
When filing a motion that is exempt from conferral – for summary judgement, to dismiss, extension of time – state the exemption in the motion.
Rule 1.280(a) Initial Discovery Disclosure (IDD) – A party must serve its IDD before it can seek discovery. At Salvo’s firm, the IDD is served with the onset of the complaint. When filing the complaint, she notes that her firm does not file the IDD, as some of this information is confidential. Instead, they file a Notice of Service of Plaintiff’s Initial Discovery Disclosure, which starts the 60-day clock for the defense to file its IDD. However, there was some question about whether this practice conforms to the rule.
An example of an IDD is reviewed covering the new mandatory format and the supporting documents/information to be provided when serving it, as specified in the rule:
- Section A – Witnesses: include name, address, telephone number and email address
- Section B – Evidence: provide a copy or description by category and location to support its claims or defenses
- Section C – Damages: provide a copy of medical bills, property damage, wage loss, etc.
- Section D – Insurance: provide a copy of the policy(-ies) that can satisfy a judgment, e., liability, uninsured motorist, and/or commercial liability policies. This does not include health insurance policies.
Rule 1.280(g)(1) Duty to Supplement
“[Review] your files on a regular basis to make sure that you’re getting pertinent evidence and information into the other party’s hand,” says Salvo. This includes request reductions, request remissions, interrogatories, and objections.
She recommends the creation of a “dump file” for each inactive case to be checked before depositions, mediations, trials, and hearings to ensure the requirement is met for “timely” supplementation to the other side.
Rule 1.280(k) Signatures are required on discovery disclosures, responses and requests, which indicates it is complete and correct at the time it is made.
Rule 1.280 (c)(1) Discovery must be proportional in cost, importance, access, and amount in controversy.
Rule 1.350 Request for Production Objections requires specific language in objections. Scenarios with examples of the non-specific and specific language are provided in the program. Also, you must state if you are holding back materials for objections; however, the rule doesn’t require identification of what is being withheld.
Rule 1.380 Sanctions lays out the different ways that failure to comply can result in court sanctions, i.e., discovery planning and requests, interrogatory responses, requests for inspection, appearance for depositions, court orders, and preservation of electronic information.
“When there is a motion to compel for discovery, the losing party pays. That is somewhat new in our system,” says Salvo, adding she hasn’t actually seen it happen. “It’s important as paralegals that we assist our attorneys in avoiding going to these hearings and we can do that by always making sure that we are in contact with our clients on a regular basis.”
“What the 2025 Civil Rule Changes Mean for Paralegals in 2026,” course #9485, has been approved by The Florida Bar Continuing Legal Education Department for 1 hour of General CLE credit.
