What production date may an Illinois Rule 214 request specify?

Retain the served request and independently establish effective service.

Read its actual time, place and manner of production or inspection.

Identify any applicable agreement, discovery order and subsequent change.

1. Retain the served request and independently establish effective service.
2. Read its actual time, place and manner of production or inspection.
3. Identify any applicable agreement, discovery order and subsequent change.
4. Rule 214(a) sets a default floor and also requires reasonableness. A later requested date is not shortened to twenty-eight days. A shorter time requires the relevant agreement or court order. Resolve service and the actual specified date before assessing compliance.
5. Serve the request on parties entitled to notice. Produce responsive material or serve written objections under Rule 214(c); comply with the unobjectionable remainder and furnish the required completeness affidavit.

This procedure does not supply one computed date. Establish each required event, selected date or filing sequence before applying any separately governing counting and closed-day provisions.

Fictitious comparison. A request specifies a reasonable time longer than twenty-eight days. Another uses a shorter court-ordered period. Applying the same twenty-eight-day offset to both would misstate their actual requirements.

Twenty-eight days is ordinarily a minimum for a reasonable specified time. The historical minimum-only preset does not determine the request’s actual date or an agreement or order.

Agreement or order can alter the floor

Rule 214(a) expressly allows agreement or court order to change the twenty-eight-day minimum. Preserve the actual terms rather than assuming the ordinary floor remains controlling.

Objections do not erase the remainder

Rule 214(c) requires compliance with the remainder when only part is objected to. The court hears objections or refusal on prompt notice and motion by the requesting party.

Organization and completeness matter

Rule 214(c) requires production as kept in the usual course of business or organized and labeled by request category, together with an affidavit stating whether production is complete.

Supplementation remains separate

Rule 214(d) requires seasonable supplementation for subsequently obtained or known responsive documents, objects or tangible things.

• This source guide does not compute a date or decide whether the required facts and filings are established.
• Preserve the applicable edition, actual documents and court orders. A different procedural branch requires its own review.

• Retain the served request and independently establish effective service.
• Read its actual time, place and manner of production or inspection.
• Identify any applicable agreement, discovery order and subsequent change.
• Rule 214(a) expressly allows agreement or court order to change the twenty-eight-day minimum. Preserve the actual terms rather than assuming the ordinary floor remains controlling.
• Rule 214(c) requires compliance with the remainder when only part is objected to. The court hears objections or refusal on prompt notice and motion by the requesting party.
• Rule 214(c) requires production as kept in the usual course of business or organized and labeled by request category, together with an affidavit stating whether production is complete.
• Rule 214(d) requires seasonable supplementation for subsequently obtained or known responsive documents, objects or tangible things.
• Serve the request on parties entitled to notice. Produce responsive material or serve written objections under Rule 214(c); comply with the unobjectionable remainder and furnish the required completeness affidavit. File with the proper clerk in the required format. Rule 9 ordinarily requires civil electronic filing, subject to its exceptions and exemptions. Rule 9(f) ordinarily requires submission before midnight in the court time zone unless a statute, rule or actual order specifies a different time. A submission on a closed clerk day ordinarily receives the next open-day stamp. Preserve the actual electronic file mark, receipt and any filing-relief order. Filing and service are distinct acts.