On January 22, 2015, the Chief Administrative Judge of the Courts of New York adopted a new rule applicable to the Commercial Division, effective April 1, 2015, that will require parties to provide increased specificity when responding and objecting to document requests. While the CPLR already requires parties to state objections with “reasonable particularity,” the new Rule goes considerably farther by (1) requiring an objecting party to specifically identify which objections form the basis for its withholding documents from production and the specific manner by which the producing party intends to limit the scope of its production, (2) setting a default deadline prior to the start of fact depositions by which the responding party must complete production of its documents, and (3) requiring the responding party to state prior to the close of fact discovery whether, with respect to each individual document request, it has completed its document production or whether there are no responsive documents in its possession, custody or control.

Although it is unclear how the rule will be interpreted and implemented in practice, it is clear that litigants in the Commercial Division will need to pay close attention to this rule to ensure compliance.

View full memo, Commercial Division of New York State Supreme Court Adopts Rule Regarding Responses and Objections to Document Requests