Jan. 6, 2016 – Ongoing innovations in technology continue to prompt changes in discovery practice and procedure in Wisconsin. Keep informed with the latest update to PINNACLE’s Wisconsin Discovery Law and Practice – which includes such developments as those addressed in the following “sample interrogatories.”
Interrogatory No. 2: Identify the State Bar of Wisconsin Professional Ethics Committee’s 2015 opinion concerning the ethical obligations of attorneys using cloud computing.
Answer No. 2: In Formal Ethics Opinion EF-15-01, the ethics committee stated that attorneys may use cloud computing as long as they take “reasonable efforts” to address the associated risks of transmitting information to and from the cloud and of storing information in the cloud. Attorneys must either have a basic understanding of the nature of cloud computing or be competently advised by someone with such knowledge.
Interrogatory No. 3: Describe the statement that must be made on a pleading, motion, or other court-filed document prepared with the assistance of an attorney in a case in which the attorney has provided limited-scope representation to an otherwise self-represented person.
Answer No. 3: The otherwise self-represented person must disclose in the document, next to the person’s signature, that the “document was prepared with the assistance of a lawyer.” Wis. Stat. § 802.05(2m). This new rule took effect Jan. 1, 2015.
Interrogatory No. 4: List some actions a federal district court might take if electronically stored information (ESI), which should have been preserved in anticipation of litigation, is lost because a party failed to take reasonable steps to preserve it.
Answer No 4: The district court may order measures no greater than necessary to cure the prejudice resulting from the loss of the ESI. But if the court finds that the spoliating party acted with intent to deprive the other party of the lost ESI, then the court may (a) presume the lost information was unfavorable, (b) instruct the jury that it may or must presume the lost information was unfavorable, or (c) dismiss the action or enter a default judgment. Fed. R. Civ. P. 37(e). These amendments took effect Dec. 1, 2015.
Interrogatory No. 5: Identify which state’s law governs a deposition conducted in Wisconsin for use in another state.
Answer No. 5: When a subpoena is issued under the Uniform Interstate Depositions and Discovery Act, as adopted in Wisconsin effective Jan. 1, 2016, the rules in Wis. Stat. ch. 804 will apply to the resulting discovery in Wisconsin. See Wis. Stat. § 887.24(5). These rules include those related to the time, place, and manner of a deposition; the production of documents (including ESI) or tangible items; and the inspection of premises.
Interrogatory No. 6: Identify the attorneys who contributed to the 2015-16 supplement to Wisconsin Discovery Law and Practice.
Answer No. 6: The following attorneys generously volunteered their time and expertise in preparing updates for the 2015-16 Discovery supplement: Melinda A. Bialzik, Ryan M. Billings, and Robert L. Gegios, Kohner, Mann & Kailas, S.C.; Donald A. Daugherty Jr., Godfrey & Kahn, S.C.; Alec Dobson and Victoria L. Moran, Davis & Kuelthau, s.c.; Timothy W. Feeley, Hall, Render, Killian, Heath & Lyman, P.C.; Robert L. Jaskulski, Habush Habush & Rottier S.C.; David E. McFarlane, Bell, Moore & Richter, S.C.; Deborah C. Meiners and Barret V. Van Sicklen, DeWitt Ross & Stevens S.C.; and Matthew Stippich, Digital Intelligence.
Order Your Copy Today
Wisconsin Discovery Law and Practice, now in its fourth edition and newly supplemented for 2015-16, is available both in print and online (via Books UnBound®, the State Bar’s interactive online library).
For more information or to place an order, call the State Bar at (800) 728-7788 or (608) 257-3838. Subscribers to the State Bar’s automatic-supplementation service will receive future updates at a discount off the regular price. Annual subscriptions to Books UnBound start at $149 per title (single-user price; call for full-library and law-firm pricing).
