Task Force on Discovery Releases Final Report

ACTL’s Task Force on Discovery and the Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System released their final report on proposed principles designed to treat the nation’s ailing system of civil justice.  The report includes a set of 29 proposed Principles that may one day underpin reform of the civil rules of procedure in both federal and state systems. 
Among the findings:

• The traditional “one size fits all” application of uniform rules to all cases, irrespective of nature and scope, no longer works; flexibility in applying specialized procedures to some cases should be permitted to promote more efficient and affordable outcomes
• The current system of pleading fails to provide an efficient mechanism for establishing claims or setting limits on the scope of discovery or trial; notice pleading should be replaced by fact-based pleading;
• Discovery costs far too much and has become and end in itself; discovery should be limited by proportionality, taking into account the nature and scope of the case, relevance, importance to the court’s adjudication, expense and burdens;
• The number of experts and the process for deposing them often significantly drives up costs; except in extraordinary cases, only one expert witness per party should be permitted for any given issue;
• Rotating judges managing a single case can undermine clarity and consistency; a single judicial officer should remain with a case throughout its life cycle.   [RJ]