Civ Pro Deck

Question 1

Relation Back New Claim

Answer 1

An amendment to a pleading will relate back to the date of the original pleading when the amendment asserts a claim or defense that arose out of the conduct, transaction, or occurrence set out in the original pleading. This may be important for the purposes of complying with the applicable statute of limitations.

Question 2

Relation Back New Party

Answer 2

If the amendment changes the party, then it will relate back to the date of the original pleading if:

(i) it asserts a claim or defense that arose out of the conduct, transaction, or occurrence set out, or attempted to be set out, in the original pleading;
(ii) within 90 days after the filing of the original complaint, the party to be brought in by amendment receives notice of the action such that he will not be prejudiced in defending on the merits; and (
iii) the party to be brought in by amendment knew or should have known that the action would have been brought against him, but for a mistake concerning the proper party’s identity.

Question 3

Motion to Compel

Answer 3

If a party fails to respond to discovery that has been properly served, the party seeking the information may move to compel such disclosure or discovery. A motion to compel must be served on all parties and be accompanied by a certificate that the movant has in good faith conferred or attempted to confer with the opposing party in an effort to obtain the disclosure or secure the information or material without court action.

Question 4

Discoverable Information

Answer 4

Discovery is generally permitted with regard to any matter relevant to any party’s claim or defense in the action that is not otherwise privileged. Admissibility of the evidence at trial does not matter for determining relevance for purposes of discovery. The test is whether the information sought is relevant to any party’s claim or defense. Information may be discoverable if it appears reasonably calculated to lead to the discovery of admissible evidence.

Question 5

Discovery Challenge

Answer 5

When discovery is challenged, the court must weigh the party’s interests in seeking discovery against the privacy interests of the party resisting discovery.

Privileged information is not discoverable.

*Think About Potential Privileges