Time-computation amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, Criminal Procedure, and Appellate Procedure went into effect on December 1, 2009.
These amendments implement a consistent method of calculating time periods throughout the federal rules, a method that counts every day, instead of excluding weekends and holidays for some periods but not others. Most of the amendments lengthen time periods by a few days, to offset the effect of counting weekends and holidays and to express time periods of less than 30 days in 7-day multiples. Most of the periods either remain the same or are lengthened: 5-day periods become 7-day periods, and 10-day periods become 14-day periods.
Congress has enacted changes to 28 statutory time periods affecting court proceedings to be consistent with this new, simplified computation approach. The United States District Courts for the Middle District of Louisiana, Western District of Louisiana and Eastern District of Louisiana revised their local rules to be consistent with the national rule and statutory changes.