There's a trend in defamation litigation to use pre-suit discovery procedures to uncover the identities of anonymous online commenters. The author considers the implications.
Pre-suit discovery under SCR 224 is a powerful and underused way to identify potential parties, investigate an incident, protect evidence, and avoid secondary spoliation claims.
On October 31, 2008, the Illinois Appellate Court, Fourth District, reversed the judgment of the Circuit Court of Logan County denying the state's request for a subpoena duces tecum, seeking release of a defendant's medical records for the day the defendant was charged with driving under the influence (DUI).
On December 26, 2007, the Illinois Appellate Court, Fourth District, reversed the holding of the Circuit Court of Sangamon County and remanded for renewed discovery and trial proceedings.
A recent ruling explains when employer-defendants can and cannot get access to employee-plaintiffs' medical and psychological records when employees sue for emotional distress cause by illegal discrimination.
With its Vision Point ruling, the Illinois Supreme Court gives trial courts the power to allow late or otherwise deficient answers to Rule 216 requests to admit.
The Property Tax Appeal Board (Board) has added section 1910.79 and amended section 1910.95 of 86 Ill Adm Code 1910, effective September 29, 2006, in order to "streamline and expedite the appeal process" for appeals on property assessments of $1 million or more.