An update on Rule 213 trial witness disclosure: the Illinois Supreme Court made important changes to the Rule 213 trial witness disclosure requirements in 2002. This article examines the evolution of Rule 213 and reviews the Supreme Court and Appellate Court decisions addressing the rule over the last five years.

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An update on Rule 213 trial witness disclosure: the Illinois Supreme Court made important changes to the Rule 213 trial witness disclosure requirements in 2002. This article examines the evolution of Rule 213 and reviews the Supreme Court and Appellate Court decisions addressing the rule over the last five years.

It has been five years since the 2002 amendments to Illinois supreme court Rule 213 took effect. (1) The former "opinion witness" rule (2) required pretrial disclosure of every opinion from every trial witness, a virtually impossible task. Many felt that civil cases were being bogged down with hypertechnical motions based on Rule 213 disclosure violations and that decisions often represented form over substance.

In response, the supreme court discarded the "opinion witness" rule and adopted a pretrial disclosure requirement based on the classification of a trial witness as a lay witness, independent expert, or controlled expert. (3) The category of the witness now determines the extent of the pretrial disclosure required to comply with Rule 213.

Based on early results from the reviewing courts, the amended rule appears to be holding its own. one good sign: appellate courts have used far fewer decisions to interpret the 2002 amendments than they did to address the former "opinion witness" rule during the first five years after its adoption. And unlike the former opinion witness rule, the 2002 amendments have inspired no calls for the supreme court to abandon the rule and start over again.

This article will first look at the supreme court's recent amendment to Rule 213 which took effect January 1, 2007. (4) It will then review three decisions by the supreme court interpreting rule 213 issues, which were decided after the court adopted the 2002 amendments to Rule 213 but arose under the former "opinion witness" rule. Finally, it will examine 10 appellate court decisions interpreting and applying the 2002 amendments.

The recent amendment to Rule 213(g)

Trial witness disclosure requirements continue to evolve, as is evidenced by the ...

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