Comments to Evidence Rules: who cares?

[RULES] WSBA's Court Rules and Procedures Committee decided at its March 28 meeting to recommend elimination of the Comments to the Rules of Evidence. The Committee's web page states:

A majority of the Committee concluded that the Comments have outlived their usefulness, and in many cases they are inadequate or obsolete. * * * A minority of the Committee's membership felt that the Comments retain some value, particularly as they indicate where Washington's rules differ from the Federal Rules of Evidence. * * *

The Board of Governors is interested in hearing from practitioners on this issue. Do attorneys in litigation actually use the Comments or do they rely on evidence manuals?

Interested people may comment to the committee (WSBACourtRules@wsba.org) or to a WSBA Governor. The Board of Governors has deferred a vote until its July meeting.

[April 2006 update. I checked the Board of Governors' minutes. The BOG voted unanimously to remove the comments at its meeting July 29-30, 2005.

Filed in: evidence, rules, WSBA