Northern District Of Illinois Updates Mandatory Initial Discovery Pilot Project

Beginning last month, the Northern District of Illinois (or the “Court”) modified its Mandatory Initial Discovery Pilot Project (the “Pilot Project”) in ways that should come as a relief to corporate defendants. Most notably, the Pilot Project no longer requires a defendant to answer the complaint and proceed with mandatory initial discovery responses when it has filed a Rule 12(b) motion to dismiss, as originally required. This is welcome news to defendants seeking to have claims dismissed before incurring the expense, business distraction, and added litigation risk of making potentially voluminous initial disclosures at the onset of litigation.

In June 2017, the Northern District launched its Pilot Project, joining a handful of federal district courts nationwide in an effort to improve speed and efficiency in the litigation process. The Pilot Project, which applies to most civil actions in the Northern District, replaces the initial disclosures required by Federal