The year 1983 was a memorable one. Not only did it bring us Ewoks and the A-Team, but it also introduced us to the concept of proportionality in discovery, courtesy of the Aug. 1, 1983 amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (Federal Rules). Proportionality, then part of Rule 26(b)(1)(iii),1 was introduced “to guard against redundant or disproportionate discovery by giving the court authority to reduce the amount of discovery that may be directed to matters that are otherwise proper subjects of inquiry [as well as] to encourage judges to be more aggressive in identifying and discouraging discovery overuse.”2
Unlike its pop culture compatriots, though, the proportionality amendment was not a success. According to one commentator, the 1983 “amendment itself seems to have created only a ripple in the case law, although some courts now acknowledge that it is clearer than it was before that they should take responsibility for the amount of discovery in cases they manage.”3
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