With everyone busy wrapping up the 2022 calendar year, many may be surprised to hear that there are amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure that took effect on December 1, 2022!

What’s that, you say? You didn’t know that the Federal Rules were amended? Well, fear not, for most of us these amendments will have no practical impact on our practices. Unlike the changes to the Federal Rules in 2015, which broadly redefined the rules for e-discovery, these 2022 amendments are minor.

Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 7.1 has been modified to extend corporate disclosure requirements to nongovernmental corporations seeking to intervene. Additionally, a new rule under FRCP 7.1 has been introduced that requires parties or interveners in a diversity case to file a disclosure statement that names and identifies the citizenship of every individual or entity whose citizenship is attributed to that party or intervener.

The Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure were also amended. FRAP 25 was modified to extend the privacy protections of FRCP 5.2 for Social Security cases to Railroad Retirement actions. The amendment to FRAP 42 restored an old requirement that the circuit clerk must dismiss an appeal if all the parties file a signed dismissal agreement specifying how costs are to be paid, and the parties pay any court fees that are due. Last, supplemental rules for Social Security Review Actions under 42.U.S.C.§405(g) now establish a simplified procedure to review a final decision of the Commissioner, and clarify that the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure continue to apply to Social Security Review Actions except when inconsistent with the Supplemental Rules.

So now you know that you really didn’t need to know what you didn’t know! Happy holidays!