By Stephen McKenney
Culminating a years-long review process – the progress of which we have been tracking closely – the Michigan Supreme Court made it official in June 2019: it has adopted the State Bar of Michigan’s Civil Discovery Amendments. The changes to the civil discovery rules will become effective January 1, 2020. The new rules are available online.
Michigan’s new civil discovery rules are patterned after (though not identical to) recent changes to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure regarding discovery. Among the most significant changes, the new rules will require initial disclosures (i.e., disclosures that must be made at the outset of a case, prior to the service of any discovery request) in most cases. The new rules also impose the limit of “proportionality” on all discovery and specific limits on the time used to depose a party or witness and the number of interrogatories that may be issued.