The United States District Court for the District of Delaware issued amended Local Rules of Civil Practice and Procedure which became effective on April 30, 2010. I serve as a member of the Court’s Advisory Committee and also served on the Local Rules Committee which assisted the Court in drafting the amended rules. Essentially, these amendments were designed to reconcile the Local Rules with the 2009 amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, including rules relating to computation of time.
A few of the more significant amendments to the Local Rules include:
(1) In Rule 7.1.2(b) lengthening the time for a response to a motion to be filed to 14 days and lengthening the time for a reply to be filed to 7 days;
(2) In Rule 7.1.3, reducing the limit of the length of opening and answering briefs to no more than 20 pages each and reply briefs to no more than 10 pages, in each instance exclusive of any table of contents or table of citations;
(3) In Rule 7.1.5 (b) clarifying that a party seeking review of an order, decision or recommendation disposition issued by a Magistrate Judge pursuant to Fed.R.Civ. P. 72 shall be limited to the filing of objections permitted under Fed.R.Civ.P. 72, and shall not be permitted to file a motion for reargument before either the Magistrate Judge or the District Court Judge pursuant to D.Del. LR 7.1.5(a); and
(4) In Rule 30.1, defining “reasonable notice” for the taking of depositions to be not less than 10 days.
A complete copy of the amended Local Rules is attached.