Rule 17.7 - Excision and Protective Orders(a) Discretion of the Court to Deny, Restrict, or Defer Disclosure. Upon a showing of cause, the court may order that specified disclosures be denied, restricted, or deferred, or make such other order as is appropriate. For instance, the court may limit or deny disclosure if it finds that there is a substantial risk to any person of physical harm, intimidation, bribery, economic reprisals, or unnecessary annoyance or embarrassment resulting from such disclosure which outweighs any usefulness of the disclosure. However, all material and information to which a party is entitled must be disclosed in time to permit the party's attorney to make beneficial use thereof.(b) Discretion of the Court to Authorize Excision. When some parts of certain materials are discoverable under these Rules and other parts are not discoverable, as much of the material should be disclosed as is consistent with the Rules.(c) Protective and Excision Order Proceedings. In the event there are matters arguably within the scope of a party's discovery request or an order for discovery, and the opposing party is of the opinion that the requesting party is not entitled to discovery of same, the opposing party shall, as soon as is reasonably practicable, file with the clerk of the court a written statement describing the nature of the information or the materials at issue as fully as is reasonably possible without disclosure of same and stating the grounds for objection to disclosure. Subject to the limitations otherwise provided in these Rules, determinations such as whether the matters requested in discovery are relevant to the case, exculpatory, possible instruments of impeachment, and the like may be made only by the party requesting or to receive the discovery. Upon request of any person, the court may permit any showing of cause for denial or regulation of disclosures, or portion of such showing, to be made in camera. A record shall be made of such proceedings. If the court enters an order granting relief following a hearing in camera, the entire record of such hearing shall be sealed and preserved in the records of the court, to be made available to the appellate court in the event of an appeal.
(d) Preservation of Record. Material excised pursuant to judicial order shall be sealed and preserved in the records of the court, to be made available to the appellate court in the event of an appeal.Comment
Rule 17.7 is derived from portions of former Rules 9.04 (B.), (G.), and (H.) of the Uniform Rules of Circuit and County Court. Section (a) gives the court broad discretion to limit the discovery required by this Rule whenever it is shown a risk of harm resulting from a specific disclosure.