Podcast - A Tortured Journey with the Lying Witness
The California legislature’s efforts to streamline the discovery process, promote transparency and fairness in civil proceedings, and reduce discovery abuse began in 2019, when California Code of Civil Procedure (C.C.P.)...more
Hospitals may once again be able to control where a patient brings a medical malpractice claim through a venue-selection agreement entered into with their patients....more
In Richards v. Eli Lily & Co., a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit joined the Fifth and Sixth Circuits in departing from the longstanding two-step procedure for distributing notice to potential...more
As defense counsel, not only do we have an obligation to evaluate plaintiffs’ complaints to develop affirmative defenses and form defense strategy, but we must also assess the viability of the claims on their face. In a...more
Overview - On July 10, 2025, the Alberta Court of King's Bench (Court) issued a Notice to the Profession and Public titled Mandatory Litigation Plans in Civil (Non-Family) Cases (Notice). The Notice introduces major...more
Recently, Florida lawmakers enacted amendments to the Florida Rules of Civil Procedure. Rule 1.280 addresses initial disclosures and now imposes stricter obligations on parties to timely exchange them. Effective January 1,...more
The Alberta Court of King's Bench has taken another step towards addressing ongoing delays in civil litigation in the Province. In a July 10, 2025, Notice to the Profession, the Court has announced that litigation plans will...more
In the context of asset recovery, a successful outcome largely depends on the ability of a claimant to garner sufficient disclosure of assets that are amenable to enforcement. This, in turn, explains why the powerful...more
Employers that defend against human rights complaints often find themselves grappling with pleadings and submissions that wander well beyond the events the complainant experienced. ...more
The Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 (Commencement No. 5) Regulations have been made under the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 (ECCTA). These regulations, made on 10 June, bring into force...more
The Florida Supreme Court amended Florida Rule of Civil Procedure 1.280(f) (Timing and Sequence of Discovery) to resolve an ambiguity in the Rule that practitioners had been unreasonably using to thwart or delay the...more
Effective April 1, 2015, the Commercial Division of the New York State Supreme Court promulgated a series of reforms to the Rules of Practice for the Commercial Division, including the addition of new Rule 11-e, which...more
Texas and Missouri, two states that have long flirted with the idea of adopting the Uniform Interstate Depositions and Discovery Act, now appear poised to take action sometime this year. ...more
In September 2023, Chief Justice Morawetz of the Superior Court of Justice and Attorney General Doug Downey announced an initiative to undertake a comprehensive review of the Ontario Rules of Civil Procedure, with a view to...more
The Georgia legislature has passed a sweeping tort reform package aimed at reducing litigation costs, curbing excessive jury awards, and increasing transparency in civil lawsuits in Georgia state and superior courts....more
In the recent case of Bank, et al. v. Lee, the New Jersey Appellate Division addressed a significant procedural issue regarding the timing for parties to file a motion to dismiss pursuant to New Jersey Court Rule 4:6-2(e)....more
New court rules went into effect in Massachusetts last month that authorize remote depositions whenever the party noticing the deposition elects that format. A prior proposal to make in-person depositions the default option...more
The rule seems simple enough: Attorneys defending a witness during a deposition may instruct the witness not to answer questions only for the purpose of protecting privileged information. And yet, if the number of trial court...more
No company would relish the prospect of defending against a class action lawsuit and thousands of related individual arbitrations at the same time. But following a recent federal court ruling, Google (and its parent company,...more
A couple of weeks ago, I was in court to help pick a jury in a high-value case. During that early phase of jury selection, the gallery was full to capacity with potential jurors, the counsel and parties were present, the...more
Everything is bigger in Texas. Even pretrial discovery rules, which permit depositions to be taken merely for the purpose of investigating whether a lawsuit should be filed. No state is more permissive when it comes to...more
I remember listening to Justice Frank Cleckley of the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals, my professor for Evidence, open his first lecture with a discussion of Federal Rule of Evidence 103. As a young law student, I was...more
The last quarter of 2024 and the beginning of 2025 saw multiple amendments to the Mississippi Rules of Civil Procedure that will impact Mississippi practitioners. The three primary Rule changes are: (1) third-party...more
The start of the new year has brought changes to Florida’s civil practice. In June 2024, the Florida Supreme Court issued proposed amendments to the state’s Rules of Civil Procedure, which we covered here. After the comment...more
Ever had to explain to a client why a sweet win in the lower courts doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s time to dig in and eat? In City of Martinsville, VA v. Express Scripts, a Fourth Circuit majority opinion used a...more