The 26(f) gate, tighter budgets, one uncapped weapon
Discovery in Federal Court — Different Physics
Florida's federal districts run discovery on the Federal Rules — and the physics change: discovery generally cannot start until the Rule 26(f) planning conference, interrogatories cap at 25 (not 30), depositions cap at 10 per side and one 7-hour day, and requests for admission carry no national cap at all.
The launch gate is a meeting, not a filing: under Rule 26(d)(1), a party generally may not seek discovery from any source before the Rule 26(f) conference — so attorneys commonly arrive at that conference with the entire discovery plan drafted: preservation, ESI protocol, clawback order, phasing, and the deadlines they want in the scheduling order.
The budgets are arithmetic: 25 interrogatories including discrete subparts, 10 depositions per side, one 7-hour day per witness. The uncapped instrument — requests for admission — commonly carries the volume work (authenticity sweeps across whole productions), while the capped instruments are spent like the last magazine.
The districts add their own layer: the Southern District's Local Rule 26.1 is a discovery code of its own, the Middle District enforces the 3.01(g) conferral requirement and publishes its own Discovery handbook (judges cite it), and the Northern District states the serve-don't-file discipline locally. Federal campaigns are drafted against the district overlay, not just the national rules.
Do it, don't just read it
Common questions
Can I send discovery with my federal complaint like in state court?
Generally no — Rule 26(d)(1) bars seeking discovery from any source before the 26(f) conference, with narrow exceptions. The conference is commonly the first strategic act of the case.
Is Florida's punitive-damages discovery shield available federally?
Florida's § 768.72 discovery bar does not automatically operate in federal court — financial-worth protection there commonly runs through Rule 26(c) protective orders and proportionality. Verify the current posture in your district.
What happens if evidence is lost in a federal case?
Rule 37(e) draws the line Florida later adopted: lost ESI that should have been preserved draws curative measures for prejudice, but adverse-inference instructions, dismissal, or default generally require a finding of intent to deprive.
The governing text — verbatim, never paraphrased
This guide is editorial; the linked pages carry the verbatim, hash-pinned text with its verification state. When a guide and the rule text could ever differ, the rule text wins — that is the whole doctrine.
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