United States Court of Appeals, 5th Circuit, Proposes Amendments to Local Rules

The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals has proposed changes to its local rules.  The court offers for public comment four categories of changes:

• Amendments to time deadlines to comply with the proposed December 1, 2009 amendments to the FED. R. APP. P.
• Replacing the word “shall” with “will” to be consistent with the previous linguistic preference in the FED. R. APP. P.
• Modifications to our attorney admissions requirements, (Rule 46.1); and an updated reference to the May 2008, 5th Circuit Judicial Misconduct Rules, in Rule 47.9.
• Addition of rules governing electronic case filing.

Comments must be received by August 10, 2009.  Click here for the full text of the proposals.

Amendments to Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Effective December 1, 2009

Effective December 1, 2009, there will be time computation and other amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.  For a full description of the changes, please see the following posts from the SmartRules Blog:

• Computation of Time and Calculating Deadlines: Changes to Federal Rules Effective December 1, 2009
• Non-Time-Computation Amendments to Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Effective December 1, 2009
• Time Calculation Changes to FRCP–Memorandum to USDC Chief Judges
• Changes to FRCP 26 and 56–Report Re Meeting of April 2009

Additional Proposed Amendments to Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Posted

Proposed amendments to the Federal Rules of Appellate, Bankruptcy, Civil and Criminal Procedure, including Civil Rules 26 and 56 have been posted.  The comment period has passed.  For more information please see http://www.uscourts.gov/rules/newrules1.htm.

California Central District Amends Local Civil Rules

The United States District Court for the Central District of California adopted Local Civil Rules 11-3.8, 83-2.3 and 83-2.8, effective April 1, 2009 and Local Civil Rules 8-3 and 73-2.4.1 effective February 16, 2009.  The Central District also posted new Local Civil Rules 73-2.4.1.1 and 73-3 effective February 16, 2009.  The full text of the new and amended rules is available at:  http://www.cacd.uscourts.gov/cacd/notices.nsf/5a76d63503298120882567cf0058ef
b4/014526934e8a1e5a88257558005a3523?OpenDocument.

California Superior Courts–Changes to Local Rules Approved by Judicial Council

The changes to the local rules in the California Superior Courts have been approved by the California Judicial Council.  The amended local rules will be available to the public on www.smartrules.com and the courts’ websites on or before July 1, 2009, and were previously provided to the SmartRules editorial team.  The updated California Superior Court SmartRules Guides are available on www.smartrules.com.

California Superior Court, Sacramento County–Changes to Law and Motion Procedure

Effective Monday, June 29, 2009, all document filing for Law & Motion will be handled at the Downtown Courthouse, 720 9th Street in Room 102, at the Civil customer service counters.  Public service will no longer be available at the Law & Motion customer service counters after this date.

Law & Motion hearings will continue to be held at 800 9th Street in Departments 53 and 54. For a detailed notice of the changes, download the Changes to Law & Motion handout.

Formal changes to the Local Rules are pending. The proposed changes are available by clicking here.

Connecticut State Court Considers Amendments to Practice Book

There was a Public Hearing on Practice Book Revisions being considered by the Rules Committee of the Superior Court on June 1, 2009 at 10:00 am.  Detailed information and actual text to proposed rules are available at http://www.jud.ct.gov/pb.htm.

Florida Southern District Amends Local Civil Rules and Discovery Practices Handbook

Effective April 15, 2009, the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida amended its local civil rules, including rules 5.1, 7.1, 16.2, 26.1, 87.4, 88.3 and the Discovery Practices Handbook.  The complete text of the amended rules is available at http://www.flsd.uscourts.gov/default.asp?file=adminorders.asp.

Idaho District Court (State Trial Court) Amends Statewide Civil Rules

Effective July 1, 2009, the Idaho Supreme Court will repeal Idaho Rule of Civil Procedure (I.R.C.P.) 28(E), and the adoption of Rules 45(I), 45(I)(1), 45(I)(2), 45(I)(3), 45(I)(4), 45(I)(5) And 45(I)(6), and the amendment of Rule 83(A) .  More information is available at http://www.isc.idaho.gov/rulesamd.htm.

Illinois Northern District Proposes Amendments to Local Rules

The United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois has proposed amendments to its Civil Local Rules 5.2, Form and Documents Filed, and 83.16, Appearance Forms.  Regarding Rule 5.2, the proposed changes would add a new subsection (b) entitled “Redaction of Transcripts Filed Electronically.”  The subsections following (b) would be renumbered.  For the full text of the proposed revisions please see Proposed Revisions to Rule 5.2.

Regarding Rule 83.16, Appearance Forms, the proposed revisions are to subsection (b), “Who Must File.”  For the full text of the proposed revisions please see Proposed Revisions to Rule 83.16..

Michigan State Court Amends Court Rules

Effective January 1, 2009, Michigan state court amended Rules 2.302, 2.310, 2.313, 2.401, 2.506 and 2.107 of the Michigan Court Rules; and effective May 1, 2009, Rules 2.614 , 2.112 and 2.403.  More information is available at http://courts.michigan.gov/supremecourt/Resources/Administrative/index.htm.

Nevada State Court Amends Rules of Civil Procedure 4 and 54

Effective May 1, 2009, the Nevada Supreme Court entered orders amending Nevada Rules of Civil Procedure 4(d) (previously amended effective December 17, 2008) and 54 (previously amended effective July 8, 2008). For the full text of the amended rules please see:  Order Amending Nevada Rule of Civil Procedure 4(d) and Order Amending Nevada Rule of Civil Procedure 54.

New Mexico State Court Considers Amendments to Subpoena Rules

The New Mexico State Court is considering proposed amendments to Subpoena rules. For more information please see:  http://nmsupremecourt.nmcourts.gov/rules/index.php.

New York Supreme Court –Amendment to Uniform Rule

New York Uniform Rule Section 202.12(l) was amended effective April 13, 2009. The full text of the amended rule is available at:  http://nycourts.gov/rules/trialcourts/202.shtml#12.

Pennsylvania State Court, Allegheny County Amends Local Rules

Effective for the cases published in January 2009 for the May 2009 trial list, Allegheny County amends Local Rules 212.2 and 220.1. More information is available at http://www.alleghenycourts.us/civil/civil_court_rules.asp

Texas Northern District Amends Local Rules

Effective September 1, 2009 unless modified after receipt of public comment, the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas will amend its local civil and criminal rules.  More information is available at:  http://www.txnd.uscourts.gov/index.html.

Texas Supreme Court Approves Amendments to Local Rules for the Second Court of Appeals, Fax and E-Filing Rules for the 259th District, and E-filing Rules for Chambers County

Approval of Amendments to the Local Rules for the Second Court of Appeals – Effective June 8, 200

Approval of Local Facsimile E-Filing Rules in the 259th District Court of Jones and Shackleford Counties – Effective June 15, 2009; and

Approval of Local E-Filing Rules for the District Courts of Chambers County – Effective June 15, 2009.

Virginia Eastern District Amends ECF Policies and Procedures, Makes Transcripts Available Electronically, Proposes Amendments to Local Rules

The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia amended its Electronic Case Filing Policies and Procedures Manual effective March 1, 2009.  The amended text of the amended Manual is available at http://www.vaed.uscourts.gov/ecf/index.html.  Also effective March 1, 2009, court transcripts that are transcribed for any trial or hearing in an electronic case will be available electronically. To ensure that personal identifiers are not revealed, the Judicial Conference has approved a policy to allow for redaction of personal identifiers.  More information is available at http://www.vaed.uscourts.gov/ecf/index.html.

Additionally, effective May 12, 2009, the Eastern District of Virginia amended Local Civil Rule 80 and Local Criminal Rule 57.3.

Virginia Circuit Court (State Trial Court) Amends Local Rules

Effective July 1, 2009, the Virginia Circuit Court will amend the following Virginia Rules of Court:

Rule 4:5 Depositions Upon Oral Examination;
Rule 4:9 Production by Parties of Documents, Electronically Stored Information, and Things; Entry on Land; for Inspection and Other Purposes; Production at Trial;
Rule 5:7B Petition for a Writ of Actual Innocence; and
Rule 8:3 Contents of Petitions in Certain Proceedings.

Click here for the full text of the amended rules.

Also, please see the SmartRules Guides for Fairfax, Norfolk and Richmond County Circuit Courts.