Volume 1 E-bulletin

E-Bulletin

As anticipated by GRSLL&B, the Court has recently demonstrated that it is committed to enforcing the procedural provisions of Best Practices even when enforcement is at the substantive cost of the litigants.

As you are probably aware, as of September 2000, wide-sweeping changes to the New Jersey Court rules, known as “Best Practices”, came into effect. One of the most important changes brought about by Best Practices was the imposition of limited discovery periods.

Best Practices also changed Rule 4:17-7, which had provided that amendments to a party’s answers to Interrogatories had to be made no later than 20 days prior to trial, to state that such amendments must be made no later than 20 days prior to the end of the discovery period.

In Montiel v. Ingersoll, Docket No. ATL-L-2066-00, Best Practices was strictly interpreted by an Atlantic County Superior Court as not permitting the introduction of a defense expert’s report, which was provided in discovery after the allotted discovery period had elapsed.

As a result, although the defendant’s expert report addressed the substance of the plaintiff’s claims and was presumably essential to the defense of the matter, the Court did not permit the report to be introduced as evidence.

It should be noted that Judge William C. Todd, III, the Presiding Civil Judge of Atlantic County, found that Rule 1:1-2, which ordinarily provides that specific Rules may be relaxed under certain circumstances, was not applicable.

Therefore, it is essential that time sensitive discovery issues, such as retaining liability and damages experts, should be addressed early in the course of litigation. The ramifications of Montiel can obviously have serious consequences.