Discovery Meet-and-Confer Letter - Texas

DISCOVERY MEET-AND-CONFER LETTER

(Initial Planning Conference Request — Pre-Dispute)

State of Texas

[LAW FIRM LETTERHEAD]
[Firm Name]
[Address Line 1]
[Address Line 2]
[City, State, ZIP]
[Phone] | [Fax] | [Email]

[__/__/____]

VIA: ☐ Email ☐ U.S. Mail ☐ Overnight Courier ☐ Hand Delivery

[Opposing Counsel Name]
[Law Firm Name]
[Address Line 1]
[Address Line 2]
[City, State, ZIP]

Re: [Case Name], [Court Name], Cause No. [________________________________]
Re: Voluntary Discovery Planning Conference and Discovery Control Plan — Tex. R. Civ. P. 190 and 191.2

Dear [Opposing Counsel Name]:

PURPOSE OF THIS LETTER

We write on behalf of our client, [________________________________], to invite you to a voluntary discovery planning conference in the above-referenced matter. Rule 191.2 expects cooperation in discovery; it requires a certificate of a reasonable, unsuccessful resolution effort when a discovery motion or hearing request is filed, but does not itself require this initial conference. This is a planning invitation, not a deficiency letter.

Key Features of Texas Discovery Practice:

1. Discovery Levels (Rule 190): Every Texas civil action is governed by a discovery control plan. Level 1 covers suits within Rule 190.2, Level 2 applies unless Level 1 or a court-ordered Level 3 plan applies, and Level 3 requires a tailored court order on a party's motion or the court's initiative. Rule 190.4 sets no dollar threshold for Level 3. We must confirm the applicable plan.

2. Meet-and-Confer Requirement (Rule 191.2): Texas Rule 191.2 expects cooperation in discovery. Any discovery motion or request for a discovery hearing must include a certificate that a reasonable effort to resolve the dispute without court intervention was made and failed.

3. Initial Disclosures (Rules 194.1–194.2): Subject to the rule's exceptions, party agreement, or court order, parties must exchange specified basic case information without a discovery request. Initial disclosures are generally due within 30 days after the first answer or general appearance is filed; later-joined parties have their own 30-day clock.

4. Other Disclosures: Rule 194.3 refers testifying-expert disclosures to Rule 195 in suits not governed by the Family Code. Rule 194.4 addresses pretrial witness and exhibit disclosures. Calendar these separately from initial disclosures.

We propose scheduling a discovery planning conference and submit the following agenda for your review.

CURRENT CASE POSTURE

• Date Suit Filed: [__/__/____]
• Date Answer Filed: [__/__/____]
• Discovery Control Plan Level (current): ☐ Level 1 ☐ Level 2 ☐ Level 3 ☐ To be determined
• Discovery Period (by level):
• Level 1 (non-Family Code suit): Begins when first initial disclosures are due; lasts 180 days under Rule 190.2(b)(1)(A)
• Level 2 (non-Family Code suit): Begins when first initial disclosures are due; ends at the earlier of 30 days before trial or nine months after those disclosures are due under Rule 190.3(b)(1)(A)
• Level 3: Per court order
• Trial Date: [__/__/____]
• Mediation/ADR: ☐ Court-ordered ☐ Agreed ☐ Not yet scheduled

SECTION 1: DISCOVERY CONTROL PLAN AND LEVEL CONFIRMATION

Under Texas Rule 190, the discovery level determines:

☐ Parties agree the case should be governed by Level [____].
☐ Parties agree to file a joint Level 3 discovery control plan by [__/__/____].
☐ Parties disagree on level — to be addressed at conference.

SECTION 2: MANDATORY DISCLOSURES (RULE 194)

Unless Rule 194.1 or 194.2(c) provides an exception, the parties agree otherwise, or the court orders otherwise, Rule 194.2 requires initial disclosures without a request, generally within 30 days after the first answer or general appearance. Its categories include:

• (1) correct names of the parties;
• (2) name, address, and telephone number of potential parties;
• (3) legal theories and general factual bases of claims or defenses;
• (4) amount and method of calculating economic damages;
• (5) names, addresses, and telephone numbers of persons with knowledge of relevant facts, and a brief statement of each person's connection to the case;
• (6) documents, ESI, and tangible things in the party's control that it may use to support claims or defenses, or their categories and locations, except solely impeachment material;
• (7) applicable indemnity and insurance agreements;
• (8) applicable settlement agreements;
• (9) witness statements;
• (10) in an injury-and-damages suit, reasonably related medical records and bills or an authorization;
• (11) in such a suit, related medical records and bills obtained through an authorization from the requesting party; and
• (12) contact details for a person who may be designated a responsible third party.

Testifying expert disclosures under Rule 194.3 and pretrial witness/exhibit disclosures under Rule 194.4 have separate requirements and timing.

☐ First answer or general appearance filed on [__/__/____]; initial disclosures generally due [__/__/____].
☐ A party was served or joined later on [__/__/____]; that party's initial disclosures generally due [__/__/____].
☐ Rule 194.1 or 194.2(c) exception, agreement, or court order changes the duty or date: [________________________________].
☐ Parties will exchange initial disclosures by [__/__/____] and separately calendar expert and pretrial disclosures.

SECTION 3: PROPOSED DISCOVERY CONFERENCE AGENDA

A. Claims, Defenses, and Early Resolution

☐ Summary of each party's principal claims and defenses
☐ Threshold legal and factual issues
☐ Settlement possibilities and any court-ordered or agreed ADR timing
☐ Whether early partial summary judgment motions would benefit both sides

B. Discovery Control Plan and Level

☐ Confirm appropriate discovery level
☐ If Level 3: agree on deposition hours, interrogatory limits, and discovery period
☐ Discuss any anticipated need for protective order regarding discovery limits

C. Scope of Discovery

☐ Relevant time period: [________________________________]
☐ Key custodians and document sources
☐ Topics for anticipated depositions
☐ Whether phased discovery (liability then damages) is appropriate: ☐ Yes ☐ No
☐ Proportionality: amount in controversy, relative access to information, burden

D. Electronically Stored Information (ESI)

Texas Rule 196.4 governs requests for electronic or magnetic data. A request must specify the electronic data and desired production form; the rule also addresses reasonable availability, objections, and extraordinary retrieval costs. The parties propose an ESI protocol covering:

☐ ESI custodians (anticipated: [____] per side)
☐ Data sources: ☐ Email ☐ Network drives ☐ Mobile/text ☐ Cloud storage ☐ Databases ☐ Social media ☐ Other: [________________________________]
☐ Production format: ☐ Native ☐ TIFF with load file ☐ PDF ☐ Other: [________________________________]
☐ Metadata fields: [________________________________]
☐ De-duplication: [________________________________]
☐ Proposed search terms — exchange by [__/__/____]
☐ Collection date range: from [__/__/____] to [__/__/____]
☐ Stipulated ESI protocol: ☐ To be negotiated

E. Privilege Log and Protective Order

Rule 193.3 governs a withholding statement and any description requested after it. Subsection (c) exempts qualifying litigation-counsel material from those steps. The following format and fields are proposed only for material that requires a description or for an agreed protocol:

☐ Proposed description format: ☐ Document-by-document ☐ Categorical
☐ Proposed fields, if applicable: date, author, recipient, subject, document type, privilege asserted
☐ Inadvertent disclosure/clawback: ☐ Yes ☐ No
☐ Protective order under Texas Rule 192.6: ☐ Yes ☐ No
☐ Deadline to file proposed protective order: [__/__/____]
☐ Sensitive categories: ☐ Trade secrets ☐ PHI ☐ Personnel records ☐ Financial records ☐ Other: [________________________________]

F. Discovery Limits and Scheduling (Confirmation for Level [____])

☐ Total oral deposition hours: [____] hours ☐ per party (Level 1) / ☐ per side (Level 2) / ☐ as ordered (Level 3)
☐ Interrogatories: [____] per party
☐ Requests for Production: [____] to each other party, subject to the applicable Rule 190 plan (Level 1: 15)
☐ Requests for Admission: [____] to each other party, subject to the applicable Rule 190 plan (Level 1: 15)
☐ Expert disclosures (initial / rebuttal): [__/__/____] / [__/__/____]
☐ Discovery cutoff: [__/__/____]

G. Deposition Scheduling and Logistics

☐ Priority depositions: [________________________________]
☐ Preferred locations: ☐ Dallas ☐ Houston ☐ Austin ☐ San Antonio ☐ Other: [________________________________]
☐ Remote depositions: ☐ Agreed ☐ Not agreed ☐ Case-by-case
☐ Corporate representative (Rule 199.2(b)(1) notice for organization): ☐ Yes ☐ No
☐ Videotaped depositions: ☐ Yes ☐ No

H. Third-Party Discovery

☐ Anticipated third-party subpoenas (Tex. R. Civ. P. 176): ☐ Yes (identify: [________________________________]) ☐ No
☐ Additional agreed advance notice of third-party subpoenas: [____] days. For a Rule 205.3 nonparty document subpoena, Rule 205.2 requires the production notice at least 10 days before the subpoena; an agreement here does not shorten that requirement.

I. Preservation and Litigation Hold

☐ Confirm each party has implemented a litigation hold.
☐ Identify data sources subject to auto-deletion.
☐ Agree to provide advance notice before modifying any preservation hold.

J. Meet-and-Confer Process for Future Disputes (Rule 191.2)

Texas Rule 191.2 requires a certificate of a reasonable, unsuccessful effort to resolve a discovery dispute without court intervention in any discovery motion or request for hearing. The parties can agree on a direct discussion process:

☐ Agree that any future discovery dispute will be addressed by telephone or video conference within [____] days of written notice.
☐ Agree to exchange written letters identifying issues at least [____] days before any conference.
☐ Agree to submit a joint letter or certification to the court after each meet-and-confer if issues remain unresolved.

SECTION 4: PROPOSED DATES FOR CONFERENCE

We are available on the following dates:

Option 1: [__/__/____] at [____]:00 [____]M (CT)
Option 2: [__/__/____] at [____]:00 [____]M (CT)
Option 3: [__/__/____] at [____]:00 [____]M (CT)

Preferred format: ☐ Telephone ☐ Zoom/Video ☐ In person at: [________________________________]

SECTION 5: REQUEST FOR RESPONSE

Please respond no later than [__/__/____] ([____] days from the date of this letter) to:

1. Confirm availability for the discovery conference;
2. Advise on your client's position on the appropriate discovery control plan level; and
3. Propose any modifications to the agenda.

We look forward to a productive conference and efficient resolution of this matter.

Respectfully submitted,

[________________________________]
[Attorney Name]
[Texas State Bar Number: ____________________]
[Law Firm Name]
[Address]
[Phone] | [Email]
Counsel for [________________________________]

CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE

I hereby certify that on [__/__/____], a true and correct copy of the foregoing was served on opposing counsel by:

☐ Electronic service per agreement
☐ U.S. First Class Mail, postage prepaid, to: [________________________________]
☐ Hand delivery to: [________________________________]
☐ Other: [________________________________]

[________________________________]
[Attorney Name]

ATTACHMENTS

☐ Attachment A — Proposed ESI Search Terms
☐ Attachment B — Draft Agreed Protective Order (Texas Rule 192.6)
☐ Attachment C — Draft Discovery Control Plan (Level 3) (if applicable)
☐ Attachment D — Draft Agreed Clawback/Non-Waiver Order

SOURCES AND REFERENCES

• Current Texas Rules of Civil Procedure, Texas Judicial Branch: Rules 190.1–190.4 (discovery plans), 191.2 (conference certificate), 194.1–194.4 (mandatory disclosures), and 196.4 (electronic or magnetic data).