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Bar association backs interstate discovery law to simplify out-of-state depositions
Summary
The Boston Bar Association urged the committee to adopt the Massachusetts Interstate Depositions and Discovery Act (H1857), a uniform-law model passed in many other states that streamlines depositions and discovery of out-of-state witnesses and documents. Testimony said the change reduces delay and cost in civil litigation that crosses state
Peter Jamieson, a family-law partner and member of the Boston Bar Association's Family Law Steering Committee, told the committee he drafted H1857 based on the Uniform Law Commission model (the Interstate Depositions and Discovery Act) and that adopting it would streamline civil discovery across state lines.
Jamieson said 40 states and the District of Columbia have enacted versions of the model law and that without it, litigants must use commissions, letters rogatory or other time-consuming measures to depose out-of-state witnesses or compel out-of-state discovery. He described the effect on Massachusetts lawyers who frequently work with neighboring jurisdictions (New Hampshire, Maine, Vermont, Connecticut, New York) and distant states; the bill would reduce judicial oversight and standardize procedure.
Jamieson said the Boston Bar Association supports the bill and offered to work with the committee on language; he reported no opposition. The committee posed no substantive objections during testimony.
