FRCP 34 (Overview: Document Production And Procedure)

What is FRCP 34?

How are discovery requests submitted in the context of a lawsuit?

What are the essential elements you should know!

Keep reading as we have gathered exactly the information that you need!

Let’s dig into our Federal Rules of Civil Procedure!

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Document Production Request 

FRCP 34 (or Rule 34 FRCP) is a federal discovery rule setting out the timing for the discovery request.

FRCP Rule 34 is titled “Producing Documents, Electronically Stored Information, and Tangible Things, or Entering onto Land, for Inspection and Other Purposes”.

In essence, a party to a lawsuit can serve another party to the lawsuit a request (within the scope of Rule 26(b)):

• To permit the inspection, copying, or testing of any documents, writings, electronic information, charts, photographs, sound, or other data in possession of the other party
• To permit the inspection, copying, or testing of any tangible things in the possession of the other party 

The rule is broadly scoped when it comes to something in the possession of the other party. 

Anything that is actually in possession of the other party, or under its custody or control is subject to discovery.

Rule 34 Federal Rules also states that a requesting party may request to enter into property or land possessed or controlled by the other party to inspect it, measure it, survey it or take samples of the property or designated objects.

Federal Discovery Procedure

The second paragraph of Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 34 lays out the procedure to be followed.

When a litigant serves the other party with a request, it must:

• Provide a description of the items to be inspected or the category of the item
• Indicate the reasonable time, place, and manner for the inspection 
• Describe the form in which electronic data is to be produced 

When a request is served, the receiving party has the opportunity to respond and raise objections.

The responding party will need to indicate if the inspection will be permitted or if he or she raises any objections in that regard.

If an objection is raised, the receiving party should provide access to parts of the request that are undisputed and indicate whether any responsive materials are being withheld on the basis of the objection.

Furthermore, a party may respond to a request for the production of electronically stored information.

The receiving party may formulate an objection to producing the electronic information based on the requested form or in the event the requesting party did not specify the form, it may state the form it plans to use.

When a party produces documents or electronically stored information, it must:

• Produce them as they are kept in the usual course of business 
• Organize and label them to correspond to the categories of the request 
• Produce the documents in the format they are usually maintained or in a reasonable usable format 

Nonparties 

Under the federal discovery rules, a nonparty to the lawsuit may also be compelled to produce documents, tangible things, or allow a litigant to inspect what’s in their possession.

The FRCP discovery for nonparties must be as provided under Rule 45.

Takeaways 

So, what is the Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 34?

What does the FRCP e-Discovery entail or what is the FRCP request for production of documents?

Let’s look at a summary of our findings.

Rule 34 Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (FRCP 34)

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