Legislative News, May 4, 2009

LEGISLATIVE NEWS
2009 Regular Session . May 4, 2009

Bills in Senate Judiciary A Committee on Tuesday, May 5
Exceptions to discovery so big that you could drive a truck through them
SB 65 by Sen. Jack Donahue encourages destruction and withholding of electronically stored evidence. It overturns the rule of discovery that says a party must produce anything that is relevant or could lead to relevant information. Under SB 65, scheduled to be heard in Senate Judiciary A Committee on Tuesday, the plaintiff must show the evidence is "directly relevant" to a claim or defense.

Defendants in every case will have incentive to claim the requested information cannot be retrieved with reasonable efforts, encouraging frivolous defenses and delays of meritorious cases.

As one LAJ member put it, “The electronic discovery proposal creates exceptions to discovery that trucks can be driven through, even though the entire purpose of electronically storing information is to increase its accessibility.”

The Louisiana State Law Institute developed the current provisions on electronic discovery. Section 2 of this bill directs the Law Institute to prepare revision comments to the provisions of this act. Why? Perhaps to make it appear after the fact that this bill was a product of the Law Institute, not of the U.S. Chamber and its member corporations?

Trouble with Drywall?  SB 257 Could Help.
If you or your clients are experiencing problems that may be related to Chinese-manufactured drywall, help may be on the way from SB 257 by Sen. Julie Quinn. This bill encompasses a number of legal protections to help homeowners whose stories of illness, property damage and home repair costs have been making the news lately.

It’s bad enough to learn that products incorporated into your home are giving off toxic, noxious fumes that make you ill and corrode your wiring and appliances. The double tragedy is that these products were incorporated into homes being repaired following wind and flood damage from Katrina and its aftermath.

 

LAJ Legislative Awareness Day is Tuesday, May 12
This is YOUR DAY at the Capitol. Join fellow members for LAJ Legislative Awareness Day for an important opportunity to meet with legislators. Participate in the entire day's activities or as your schedule allows. Most of all, come to Baton Rouge on that day so that LAJ members will have a good showing at Capitol. Reply to this message or call the LAJ office at 800-354-6267 or 225-383-5554 to get more information and sign up to attend. Family members and office staff are welcome to attend.

 

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