FRCP moves from business days to calendar days
The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure are changing December 1, 2009. Heads up to ediscovery teams to readjust calendars. The changes give extra time and take time away.
The most significant changes are to Rule 6. Currently under Rule 6, intermediate weekends and holidays for some short time periods are excluded when counting deadlines…
The new Rule 6 adopts the “days-are-days” approach. When calculating a deadline, every day is counted, including intermediate weekends and holidays, for all time periods.
Docketing professionals will be quite busy figuring out the gift of time.
Other drastic changes to the FRCP are the new time periods in Rules 6, 12, 14, 15, 23, 27, 32, 38, 50, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 59, 62, 65, 68, 71.1, 72 and 81. These new periods are extensions of the old periods. Most periods occur in multiples of 7. As a result, rules that previously called for 1, 3 or 5-day periods become 7-day periods. Similarly, periods that were previously 10 or 11 days become 14 days, and periods that were once 20 days become 21 days. Important exceptions are found in Rules 50, 52 and 59. Periods of 10 days in those rules become 28 days under the new rules.
Thanks to Elizabeth Zidones, an intellectual property attorney at Merchant and Gould for the analysis in her Law.com article, FRCP Changes on the Horizon.
Get your calendars out. Happy holidays are coming….
Filed under Case Law & Rules, Federal Rules, Sound Evidence, Technology Counsel.