Indiana Intellectual Property Law News
Indianapolis, IN -The United States District Court for the Southern District of Indiana has released Amendments to its Local Rules of this Court are adopted, effective January 1, 2011. The changes most relevant to patent, trademark and copyright litigation attorneys relate are Local Rule 37.1 – Discovery Disputes; and Local Rule 83.7 – Appearance and Withdrawal of Appearance.
Local Rule 37.1 has been amended to read as follows:
(a) Prior to involving the court in any discovery dispute, including disputes involving depositions, counsel must confer in a good faith attempt to resolve the dispute. If any such dispute cannot be resolved in this manner, counsel are encouraged to contact the chambers of the assigned Magistrate Judge to determine whether the Magistrate Judge is available to resolve the discovery dispute by way of a telephone conference or other proceeding prior to counsel filing a formal discovery motion. When the dispute involves an objection raised during a deposition that threatens to prevent completion of the deposition, any party may recess the deposition to contact the Magistrate Judge’s chambers.
(b) In the event that the discovery dispute is not resolved at the conference, counsel may file a motion to compel or other motion raising the dispute. Any motion raising a discovery dispute must contain a statement setting forth the efforts taken to resolve the dispute, including the date, time, and place of any discovery conference and the names of all participating parties. The court may deny any motion raising a discovery dispute that does not contain such a statement.
(c) Discovery disputes involving pro se parties are not subject to Local Rule 37.1.
This provision has typically been included in Case Management Plans in recent years, but is now the standard.