Kept in the Usual Course of Business

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There were three changes to the Discovery Act that became effective on January 1st, 2020 which can be found in Code of Civil Procedure sections  2031.280, 2016.090 and 2023.050. This blog will discuss the change to C.C.P. §2031.280 and its significance.

California Code of Civil Procedure § 2031.280 titled Form in which documents to be produced; Form for producing electronically stored information; Translation of data subdivision (a) states as follows:

Old Statute:

(a) Any documents produced in response to a demand for inspection,  copying, testing, or sampling shall either be produced as they are kept in  the usual course of business, or be organized and labeled to correspond with the categories in the demand.

            New Statute:

 (a) Any documents or category of documents produced in response to a demand for inspection, copying, testing, or sampling shall be identified with the specific request number to which the documents respond.

            Difference:

Responding party can no longer produce documents kept in the “usual course of business. “

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Continue Reading Make Sure You are Aware of the New Document Response Requirements

UPDATED OCTOBER 21, 2020

C.C.P. §2031.280(a) was amended on 1/1/2020 to read:

(a) Any documents or category of documents produced in response to a demand for inspection, copying, testing, or sampling shall be identified  with the specific request number to which the documents respond.

See my blog  “Make Sure you are aware of the New Document Response Requirements” for an updated analysis.

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Original Blog

Have you ever had a situation where the opposing side has responded to each of your document production requests with the response?

All responsive documents within the custody and control of responding party will be produced.

And then they dump thousands of documents on you with no rhyme or reason as to how they are organized.

You then diligently send your meet and confer letter stating that the  documents are so disorganized that you “can’t make heads or tails as to which documents are responsive to which request.”  Opposing counsel responds saying that the document production was in compliance with the code as the documents were produced “as they are kept in the usual course of business” and they will neither modify their response nor the production.  So what do you do?

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Continue Reading A Needle in a Haystack – When Opposing Party Dumps Documents