The new year begins with changes to the Rules of Civil Procedure that took effect on Jan. 1.

Florida’s trial courts manage more than two million civil case filings annually and to boost the resolution of civil cases, the Supreme Court established a workgroup in charge of reviewing a variety of measures and practices that could curtail cost and delay through process abuse.

And the court entered an opinion amending the Florida Rules of Civil Procedure requiring certain initial discovery disclosures, imposing a duty to supplement and requiring that discovery be proportional to the needs of the case.