The Illinois Supreme Court has made a pdf file of the new amendments to the Illinois Supreme Court Rules available online. The amended rules are 40, 213, 316, and 527; some of the amendments are effective immediately, and some not until January 1.
Litigators might be most interested in the amendments to Rule 213(g), which explain how an expert's trial testimony is circumscribed by the opinions disclosed in interrogatory answers and discovery depositions. The amendments are an attempt to make clear that an expert cannot disclose new opinions in an evidence deposition and then testify to those opinions live at trial. Opinions are to be disclosed before the evidence deposition, in an interrogatory response or a discovery deposition.
The amended rule reads as follows, with the new amendments noted in italics:
213(g) Limitation on Testimony and Freedom to Cross-Examine.
The information disclosed in answer to a Rule 213(f) interrogatory, or in a discovery deposition, limits the testimony that can be given by a witness on direct examination at trial. Information disclosed in a discovery deposition need not be later specifically identified in a Rule 213(f) answer, but, upon objection at trial, the burden is on the proponent of the witness to prove the information was provided in a Rule 213(f) answer or in the discovery deposition. Except upon a showing of good cause, information in an evidence deposition not previously disclosed in a Rule 213(f) interrogatory answer or in a discovery deposition shall not be admissible upon objection at trial.
Without making disclosure under this rule, however, a cross-examining party can elicit information, including opinions, from the witness. This freedom to cross-examine is subject to a restriction that applies in actions that involve multiple parties and multiple representation. In such actions, the cross-examining party may not elicit undisclosed information, including opinions, from the witness on an issue on which its position is aligned with that of the party doing the direct examination.
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