Changes Proposed for Civil Trials

In their final report issued this week, a task force of prominent plaintiffs' attorneys and defense attorneys from the American College of Trial Lawyers agreed on something. They called for changes that would transform the current civil discovery rules--including replacing notice pleading with fact-based pleading, revising the rules for initial disclosures, and making civil discovery more targeted and time-limited. The College's Task Force on Discovery and the University of Denver's Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System, issued the report based on an 18-month joint project to examine the role of discovery in perceived problems, such as delays and prohibitive litigation costs, in the American civil justice system. The anticipated "public discussion and debate" will no doubt follow.





Ernster, the Virtual Library Cat