Notice Inviting Comment
Proposed Amendments to Rules 16, 26, 34, 37 and 45 of the Massachusetts Rules of Civil Procedure
NOTICE
The Supreme Judicial Court's
Standing Advisory Committee on the Rules of Civil Procedure
Invites Comments on Proposed Amendments to
Rules 16, 26, 34, 37 and 45 of the
Massachusetts
Rules of Civil Procedure
The Supreme Judicial Court 's Standing Advisory Committee on the Rules of Civil Procedure (SAC) invites comments on proposed amendments dealing with discovery of electronically stored information. The SAC is considering amendments to Mass. R. Civ. P. 16, 26, 34, 37, and 45. The Committee solicits and welcomes comments from the bar prior to presenting its recommendation to the Rules Committee of the Supreme Judicial Court .
As described more fully in the Introduction that precedes the draft Reporter's Notes attached to this Notice, in 2008 the SAC appointed a subcommittee to review the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure on discovery of electronically stored information and to consider whether amendments to the Massachusetts Rules of Civil Procedure would be appropriate. In the course of its work, the subcommittee drew on two primary sources: the 2006 amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure that addressed electronically stored information and the 2007 Uniform Rules Relating to the Discovery of Electronically Stored Information (National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws).
Over the course of two years, the subcommittee and the Standing Advisory Committee met on a regular basis to review and debate the issues involved. A major focus of the SAC and the subcommittee was crafting a process consistent with current Massachusetts practice: (1) by which the parties, and the court if necessary, deal with electronic discovery early in the litigation, including the format for production of electronically stored information; (2) that addresses how to handle electronically stored information that is "inaccessible;" (3) that recognizes that privileged information may be inadvertently disclosed in the context of electronic discovery and sets forth a remedy for such disclosure; and (4) that provides protection where electronically stored information is lost by virtue of the "good-faith operation of an electronic information system." These matters are all addressed in the draft Reporter's Notes that accompany the proposed amendments.
The SAC welcomes all comments pertaining to the proposed amendments and will make recommendations to the Supreme Judicial Court after reviewing the comments submitted. Comments should be directed to Christine Burak, Supreme Judicial Court , John Adams Courthouse, One Pemberton Square ,
- Proposed Amendments to the
Massachusetts 
- Draft Reporter's Notes and Introduction to Proposed Amendments