As we’ve mentioned time and again on this blog, since its inception in 1995, New York’s Commercial Division has continued to not only be a leader in developing and shaping commercial law, but it is also on the forefront of instituting rules with the goals of fostering litigation efficiency, cost reduction, and implementation of technology in the courtroom. The Commercial Division Advisory Council, which is tasked with keeping abreast of new developments relating to commercial litigation in New York and providing advice concerning important and cutting-edge issues of interest to practitioners, is instrumental in maintaining the Commercial Division’s national (and even international) reputation as a leading business court.

On September 14, 2021, the New York State Office of Court Administration issued a request for public comment by the Advisory Council to amend Commercial Division Rule 11 to include a preamble about proportionality and reasonableness and to add provisions allowing the Court to direct early case assessment disclosures and analysis prior to and after the Preliminary Conference. This recent request piggybacks off another, lengthier and robust set of proposed modifications to Rule 11, as recently reported by my colleague, James Maguire.

The preamble to Commercial Division Rule 11 proposed by the Advisory Council provides the following:

Acknowledging that discovery is one of the most expensive, time-consuming aspects of litigating a commercial case, the Commercial Division aims to provide practitioners with a mechanism for streamlining the discovery process to lessen the amount of time required to complete discovery and to reduce the cost of conducting discovery. It is important that counsel’s discovery requests are both proportional and reasonable in light of the complexity of the case and the amount of proof that is required for the cause of action.

The stated rationale behind the proposed preamble is to reaffirm or re-emphasize the guiding principles of proportionality and reasonableness in the pursuit of discovery in the Commercial Division which two concepts “must govern discovery in all cases, including the most intricate, difficult and complex Commercial Division case.” As further noted by the Advisory Council, proportionality and reasonableness are specifically included in the proposed preamble to Rule 11 so that “no party or counsel may argue that these concepts are modifying any legal standards or Rules that apply to the scope of discovery.”

The Advisory Council also recommended the inclusion of several additional provisions allowing the Court to direct early case assessment disclosures and analysis prior to and after the Preliminary Conference. One such proposed provision affords the Court the ability to direct the plaintiff to produce a document “stating clearly and concisely the issues in the case prior to the preliminary conference,” and to the extent that there are any counterclaims, to direct the counterclaimant to produce a document stating clearly and concisely the issues asserted in the counterclaims. The proposal also provides the Court with the discretion to direct both of the parties to produce a document stating each of the elements in the causes of action at issue and the facts needed to establish their case. The stated goal for this recommendation is to “streamline” the discovery process “so that that discovery is aligned with the needs of a case and not a search for each and every possible fact in the case.”

Although the suggested proposals are not earth-shattering, any proposal that purports to “streamline” the discovery process is welcome.

Persons wishing to comment on the proposal should e-mail their submissions to rulecomments@nycourts.gov or write to: Eileen D. Millett, Esq., Counsel, Office of Court Administration, 25 Beaver Street, 11th Fl., New York, New York, 10004. Comments must be received no later than November 15, 2021.