Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 30(b)(6) is a critical part of
litigation involving corporations and other business entities. Rule
30(b)(6) allows a litigant seeking information from an organization
to serve a notice of deposition or subpoena requiring the
organization to designate a representative to testify regarding the
organization's knowledge on discoverable issues. The Advisory
Committee on the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, however, has
proposed changes to Rule 30(b)(6) that have the potential to affect
the process of taking discovery from a corporate litigant.
Under the current version of Rule 30(b)(6), the party seeking to
depose the organization serves a notice or subpoena identifying
topics for the deposition. The organization then identifies an
individual (or individuals) of its own choosing to testify
regarding the topics provided by the party taking the deposition,
subject to any objections regarding the topics identified. The
testimony of the
