Metadata Discovery after the 2006 Amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure: Did the Amendments Work?

Ryan J. Rawlings, Case Western Reserve University School of Law

Abstract

In 2003, the Civil Rules Advisory Committee determined electronically stored information discovery required a national, uniformly applied rule, and proposed amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure explicitly addressing electronically stored information. The electronically stored information amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure became effective December 01, 2006. It is time to ask, did the amendments achieve the Committee’s goal to create a uniform system of electronic discovery? This Note will review the amendments to Rule 34 and the amendments’ effect on metadata discovery.