To increase the accessibility of justice and reduce the overall cost and delay of litigation in the state, Colorado’s Supreme Court adopted several amendments to its rules of civil procedure. One of the biggest changes impacts discovery.
The changes made to the Colorado Supreme Court rules reflect those of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, which are expected to go into full effect December of this year.
The all of the major changes on discovery and pretrial.
According to an article in The Colorado Lawyer, the provisions will “increase involvement of judges to establish early and personal judicial oversight of pretrial activities; provide for expedited discovery motions; change the breadth of required disclosures; limit discovery to what is needed, not what is wanted; limit expert discovery; clarify obligations when responding to interrogatories and requests for documents; and strengthen judges’ ability to award sanctions for noncompliance with these rules.”
Lawyers will begin to take these amendments into consideration when filing any civil case in Colorado on and after July 1, 2015. For any questions or concerns about the changes of the Colorado Supreme Court Rules, and how they might impact your practice, please contact the Colorado Supreme Court for additional guidance.