N.D.N.Y. L.R. 37.1

The following steps are required prior to making any discovery motion pursuant to Rules

26 through 37 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.

a. Parties must make good faith efforts among themselves to resolve or reduce all

differences relating to discovery prior to seeking court intervention.

b. The moving party must confer in detail with the opposing party concerning the discovery

issues between them in a good faith effort to eliminate or reduce the area of controversy

and to arrive at a mutually satisfactory resolution. Failure to do so may result in denial of

a motion to compel discovery and/or imposition of sanctions.

c. If the parties' conference does not fully resolve the discovery issues, the party seeking

relief must then request a court conference with the assigned Magistrate Judge. Pro se

parties who are incarcerated are not subject to the court conference requirement prior to

filing a motion to compel discovery. The assigned Magistrate Judge may direct the party

making the request for a court conference to file an affidavit setting forth the date(s) and

mode(s) of the consultation(s) with the opposing party and a letter that concisely sets

forth the nature of the dispute and a specific listing of each of the items of discovery

sought or opposed. Immediately following each disputed item, the party must set forth

the reason why the Court should allow or disallow that item.

d. Following a request for a discovery conference, the Court may schedule a conference and

advise all parties of a date and time. The assigned Magistrate Judge may, in his or her

discretion, conduct the discovery conference by telephone conference call, initiated by

the party making the request for the conference, by video conference, or by personal

appearance.

e. Following a discovery conference, the Court may direct the prevailing party to submit a

proposed order on notice to the other parties.

f. If a party fails or refuses to confer in good faith with the requesting party, thus requiring

the request for a discovery conference, the Court, at its discretion, may subject the

resisting party to the sanction of the imposition of costs, including the attorney’s fees of

opposing party in accordance with Fed. R. Civ. P. 37.

g. A party claiming privilege with respect to a communication or other item must

specifically identify the privilege and the grounds for the claimed privilege. The parties

may not make any generalized claims of privilege.

h. The parties shall file any motion to compel discovery that these Rules authorize no later

than FOURTEEN DAYS after the discovery cut-off date. See L.R. 16.2. A party shall

accompany any motion that it files pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 37 with the discovery

materials to which the motion relates if the parties have not previously filed those

materials with the Court.

SECTION VI.

TRIALS