The Committee on Rules of Practice and Procedure of the Judicial Conference of the United States has produced a lengthy set of amendments to the Federal Rules of Appellate, Bankruptcy, Civil and Criminal Procedure. These include amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure to specifically address Social Security cases. The proposed changes concerning Social Security begin at page 231 of this 280 page document.
At first reading, these do not seem concerning to me but as lawyers know, any procedural rules have the potential to be outcome determinative.
The public has until February 16, 2021 to file written comments on the proposed changes. There will be public hearings on the proposed amendments to the civil rules on November 10 and January 22. After this process, the Committee on Rules of Practice and Procedure, the Judicial Conference and the Supreme Court must all agree before these proposals come into effect.
For what it is worth, the Southern District of Indiana has already adopted most of these proposed changes as a local rule a couple of years ago. To be honest, it has made practicing in federal court simpler and less cumbersome without having to send out several notices and filing the returns. I agree that any change automatically concerns me, but I haven't run into any issues with these rules.
ReplyDelete