LibGuides: Social Media & the Law by Brittany Cowan: Court Rules

Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure

Rule 25
Subdivision (a)(5) was effectuated in 2007 to require that personal identification information be redacted from court documents filings. The purpose of this amendment is “to protect privacy and security concerns relating to electronic filing of documents and the public availability ... of documents filed electronically.”
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2002 Amendment: "A court of appeals may not, by local rule, forbid the use of electronic service on a party that has consented to its use. At the same time, courts have considerable discretion to use local rules to regulate electronic service."

Local Rules, Forms and Guidelines of US District Courts & Federal Courts

Northern District of Florida
Local E-Discovery Rules for the Northern District of Florida
Middle District of Florida
Local E-Discovery Rules for the Middle District of Florida
Southern District of Florida
Local E-Discovery Rules for the Southern District of Florida
ESI Discovery Production in Criminal Cases

Federal Rules of Civil Procedure

Rule 26
Duty to Disclose: General Provisions Governing Discovery
Subdivision (ii) discusses the initial disclosure of electronically stored information
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In regards to the reviewing of sanctions, "[t]he nature of the sanction is a matter of judicial discretion to be exercised in light of the particular circumstances."
The amendments in Rule 26(b)(2) were enacted to provide the court with broader discretion to impose additional restrictions on the scope and extent of discovery and to authorize courts that develop case tracking systems based on the complexity of cases to increase or decrease by local rule the presumptive number of depositions and interrogatories allowed in particular types or classifications of cases.
Rule 34
Producing Documents, Electronically Stored Information, and Tangible Things, or Entering Onto Land, for Inspection and Other Purposes
In general, a party may request potentially relevant documents.
Subdivision (A) deals with electronically stored documents, which include: writings, drawings, graphs, charts, photographs, sound recordings, images, and other data or data compilations.
Rule 37
Failure to Make Disclosures or Cooperate in Discovery; Sanctions
In general, this rule deals with the consequences of failing to deliver discoverable information. Courts will impose sanctions on attorneys and clients who fail to disclose as required by FRCP 26.
Subdivision (e) provides that courts will not impose sanctions if ESI was lost due to routine, good faith maintenance of the electronic database.
Subdivision (f) was added in 2006 to further address routine maintenance of ESI.
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The amendment does not significantly narrow the discretion of the court, but rather presses the court to address itself to abusive practices.

Florida Supreme Court

IN RE: AMENDMENTS TO THE RULES REGULATING THE FLORIDA BAR—SUBCHAPTER 4-7, LAWYER ADVERTISING RULES.
In 2013, the Florida Supreme Court addressed social media in regards to lawyer advertising. Now, the state’s advertising rules make clear that lawyer and law firm websites (including social networking and video sharing sites) are subject to many of the restrictions applicable to other traditional forms of lawyer advertising.