Effective January 1, 2016, a new law will go in to effect in Illinois that will allow a person involved in litigation outside of Illinois to serve a subpoena upon a person located inside the State of Illinois that seeks the production of documents or the attendance at a deposition in Illinois. The new law is Public Act 099-0079 and it will be called the Uniform Interstate Depositions and Discovery Act.
To request issuance of a subpoena under the new law, a party must submit a foreign subpoena (e.g., from the State of Indiana) to a clerk of court in the county in which discovery is sought to be conducted in this State (e.g., DuPage County, Illinois). A request for the issuance of a subpoena under this Act does not constitute an appearance in the courts of this State. When a party submits a foreign subpoena to a clerk of court in this State, the clerk, in accordance with that court’s procedure, shall promptly issue a subpoena for service upon the person to which the foreign subpoena is directed.
Format. The subpoena must contain or be accompanied by the names, addresses, and telephone numbers of all counsel of record in the proceeding to which the subpoena relates and of any party not represented by counsel and it must incorporate the terms used in the foreign subpoena.
Service of the subpoena. The subpoena must be served pursuant to Illinois Supreme Court Rule 204 (compelling appearance of deponent), Rule 237 (compelling appearance of witnesses at trial) and 735 ILCS 5/2-1101 of the Code of Civil Procedure (expense of producing documents and fee disputes with experts subpoenaed to testify).
Enforcing the subpoena. An application to the court for a protective order or to enforce, quash, or modify a subpoena issued by a clerk of court under the new law must comply with the rules or statutes of this State and be submitted to the court in the county in which discovery is to be conducted. A subpoena issued under the new law may not require compliance outside a deponent’s county of residence in the State of Illinois.
The new law in Illinois is modeled after the Uniform Law by the same name that has been adopted in all but a dozen or so states. For a list of states that have adopted the UIDDA or some version of it, click here. http://www.uniformlaws.org/Act.aspx?title=Interstate+Depositions+and+Discovery+Act.
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