(b) Service and Filing of Discovery Material. Initial and expert disclosures and the following discovery requests, responses, objections, notices or any associated proof of service shall not be filed until they are used in the proceeding or the court orders their filing:
(2) interrogatories;
(3) requests for documents, electronically stored information or things, or to permit entry upon land;
(4) requests for admission;
(5) notices of taking depositions or notices of serving subpoenas; and
(6) privilege logs.
(d) Completion of Discovery. Party and non-party depositions must be scheduled to occur, and written discovery requests and subpoenas seeking the production of documents must be served in sufficient time that the response is due on or before the discovery cutoff date. Failure by the party seeking discovery to comply with this paragraph obviates the need to respond or object to the discovery, appear at the deposition, or move for a protective order.
(e) Interrogatories and Production Requests.
(2) Assertion of Privilege:
(B) Where a claim of privilege is asserted in objecting to any interrogatory or production demand, or sub-part thereof, and a complete answer is not provided on the basis of such assertion, within the time provided by subpart (D) below:
(ii) The following information shall be provided in the objection, unless divulgence of such information would cause disclosure of the allegedly privileged information:
(2) general subject matter of the document or electronically stored information;
(3) the date of the document or electronically stored information; and
(4) such other information as is sufficient to identify the document or electronically stored information for a subpoena duces tecum, including, where appropriate, the author, addressee, and any other recipient of the document or electronically stored information, and, where not apparent, the relationship of the author, addressee, and any other recipient to each other;
(2) the date and the place of communication; and
(3) the general subject matter of the communication.
(D) Timing for Party Discovery: Unless the parties agree on a different time frame or the Court orders otherwise, the privilege log required under subpart (C) above shall be served no later than fourteen (14) days following service of:
(ii) the response to the request for production if all responsive documents are being withheld on the basis of such privilege or protection.
(ii) any claim of privilege or work product protection in response to the subpoena if all responsive documents are being withheld on the basis of such privilege or protection.
(B) any relevant compilations, abstracts or summaries in its custody or readily obtainable by it, unless those materials are privileged or otherwise immune from discovery.
(C) the records and materials for inspection and copying within fourteen (14) days after service of the answers to interrogatories or at a date agreed upon by the parties.
(5) The documents, electronically stored information, or things should be referenced to specific paragraphs of a request for production where practicable, unless the producing party exercises its option under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 34(b) to produce documents as they are kept in the usual course of business. The party producing documents in response to a request for production has an obligation to explain the general scheme of record-keeping to the inspecting party. The objective is to acquaint the inspecting party generally with how and where the documents, electronically stored information, or things are maintained.
(6) Each page of any document produced in a non-electronic format must be individually identified by a sequential number that will allow the document to be identified but that does not impair review of the document.
(7) A party responding to a request for production of documents or materials shall serve a Notice of Completion of Production at the time that party produces (or otherwise makes available) the last of the documents or other materials that are responsive to the request that are not being withheld pursuant to an objection.
(2) After a claim of privilege has been asserted, unless divulgence of requested information would cause disclosure of privileged information, the attorney or party seeking disclosure shall have reasonable latitude during the deposition to question the witness to establish other relevant information concerning the assertion of the privilege, including questions about the topics set forth in Local Rule 26.1(e)(2)(B)(ii) above.
(2) Requirements and Deadlines for Seeking Court Intervention Concerning Discovery Disputes.
(ii) for a discovery dispute relating to a deposition that has been completed, a party shall submit the dispute within twenty-eight (28) days of the last day of testimony in the deposition giving rise to the dispute;
(iii) for a discovery dispute relating to the sufficiency of a production of documents or other materials, a party shall submit the dispute within twenty-eight (28) days of the producing party’s service of the Notice of Completion of Production as required by S.D. Fla. L.R. 26.1(e)(7); and
(iv) for any other discovery dispute, a party shall submit the dispute within twenty-eight (28) days of the date when the issue was first raised with the opposing party.
(C) The deadlines set forth in (A)(i)-(iv) may be extended once for up to seven (7) days by an unfiled, written stipulation between the parties, provided that the stipulation does not conflict with any Court order.
(D) The duty to conduct a pre-filing conference pursuant to S.D. Fla. L.R. 7.1(a)(3) shall not toll the deadlines set forth in (A)(i)-(iv) or any deadline provided by the assigned judge’s discovery procedures unless those discovery procedures specifically provide otherwise.
Failure to comply with this rule obviates the need for protective order.
Notwithstanding the foregoing, in accordance with Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 32(a)(5)(A), no deposition shall be used against a party who, having received less than eleven (11) calendar days’ notice of a deposition as computed under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 6(a), has promptly upon receiving such notice filed and served a motion for protective order under Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 26(c)(1)(B) requesting that the deposition not be held or be held at a different time or place and such motion is pending at the time the deposition is held.
(i) Subpoenas; Cooperation. Whenever a party, before trial, receives objections, documents, electronically stored information, or other things from a non-party in response to a subpoena, the party receiving same shall promptly notify all other parties of such receipt, and shall, upon request, make the materials available for inspection to all other parties in the same form or format as received from the non-party. The other parties may request copies of objections, documents, electronically stored information, or other things, but the expense associated with providing such copies shall be borne by the party requesting the copies, except by order of the Court for good cause shown. Nothing in this subdivision is intended to create, eliminate, enlarge, or reduce any post-judgment notice, disclosure, production, or inspection obligations.
