XIX. Prehearing Conference and Facts Disclosed at Prehearing Conference Privileged

Rule 50 provides that facts disclosed at prehearing conference are privileged. This rule is obsolete, having developed when the practice was for parties to explore settlement in prehearing conference. Under current practice and Rules 51 et seq., settlement discussions take place in settlement conferences outside of prehearing conferences. There is no basis for creating a privilege for non-settlement statements of fact at prehearing conference. Accordingly, we propose to repeal Rule 50.

Rule 49 provides that a prehearing conference may be conducted to identify the scope and schedule of the proceeding. This rule is redundant with the more recent and comprehensive Rule 6.2. Accordingly, we propose to repeal it.