Also known as: Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 16 · FRCrimP 16 · Rule 16 · FRCP 16 (criminal)
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A federal rule establishing procedures for pretrial disclosure of evidence and information in criminal prosecutions. The rule requires the government and defense counsel to confer promptly after arraignment to set a timetable for exchanging materials that facilitate trial preparation.
Nimbus Cloud sued ScrollFeed for patent infringement. The court set a Rule 16 scheduling conference for June 30. Counsel had exchanged only informal settlement emails. The parties therefore scheduled their required planning conference for June 5 to satisfy the minimum lead time before the scheduling conference.
The United States arraigned Fabian Flynn on fraud charges. Within fourteen days the prosecutor and defense counsel met to negotiate a schedule for exchanging witness statements and exhibits under the disclosure rule. They submitted an agreed timetable to the court the following week.
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Summit Pension Fund sued Apex Capital Management for securities fraud. At the pretrial conference plaintiffs orally requested leave to add new misrepresentation claims based on late-produced emails. The court considered the request and incorporated any permitted amendment into the pretrial order.
Plaintiff sought production of defense counsel's interview memoranda prepared after the accident. The court refused the request, holding that the materials constituted protected work product prepared in anticipation of litigation and were therefore shielded from routine discovery.
Plaintiff offered expert opinions linking chemical exposure to illness. The court excluded the testimony after finding the studies relied upon lacked sufficient connection to the plaintiff's specific exposure levels and therefore failed to meet the reliability threshold for admission.
The defense called its investigator to testify about witness statements. The court required production of the investigator's report containing those statements because the Fifth Amendment privilege did not extend to third-party observations recorded by the defense team.
The parties must confer as soon as practicable and in any event at least twenty-one days before the scheduling conference or the due date of the scheduling order, unless the case is exempt or the court orders otherwise.
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They must confer and attempt to agree on a timetable and procedures for pretrial disclosure of materials governed by the rule.
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Yes. The court may consider and, if appropriate, permit amendment of the pleadings at the conference when doing so serves the fair and efficient resolution of the dispute.
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…preparation for trial. The various instruments of discovery now serve (1) as a device, along with the pre-trial hearing under Rule 16, to narrow and clarify the basic issues between the parties, and (2) as a device for ascertaining the facts, or information as to the existence or whereabouts of facts, relative to those…