§ 13-10. Responses to Requests for Production; Objections

(a)The party to whom the request is directed or such party's attorney shall serve a written response, which may be in electronic format, within thirty days after the date of certification of service, in accordance with Sections 10-12 through 10-17, of the request or, if applicable, the notice of requests for production on the responding party, unless:

(1) Counsel file with the court a written stipulation extending the time within which responses may be served; or

(2) The party to whom the requests for production are directed, after service in accordance with Sections 10-12 through 10-17, files a request for extension of time, for not more than thirty days, within the initial thirty-day period. Such request shall contain a certification by the requesting party that the case has not been assigned for trial. Such request shall be deemed to have been automatically granted by the judicial authority on the date of filing, unless within ten days of such filing the party who has served the requests for production or the notice of requests for production shall file objection thereto. A party shall be entitled to one such request for each set of requests for production served upon that party; or

(3) Upon motion, the court allows a longer time.

(b)The response of the party shall be inserted directly on the original request served in accordance with Section 13-9 and shall state, with respect to each item or category, that inspection and related activities will be permitted as requested, unless the request or any part thereof is objected to, in which event the reasons for objection shall be stated on a cover sheet as provided herein. If, pursuant to subsection (b) of Section 13-9, a notice of requests for production is served in lieu of requests for production, the party to whom such notice is directed shall in his or her response set forth each request for production immediately followed by that party's response thereto. No objection may be filed with respect to requests for production set forth in Forms 204, 205 and/or 206 of the rules of practice for use in connection with Section 13-9. Where a request calling for submission of copies of documents is not objected to, those copies shall be appended to the copy of the response served upon the party making the request. The responding party shall attach a cover sheet to the response. The cover sheet shall comply with Sections 4-1 and 4-2 and shall state that the responding party will permit all inspection and related activities as requested or shall set forth those requests to which the party objects and the reasons for objection. The cover sheet and the response shall not be filed with the judicial authority unless the responding party objects to one or more requests, in which case only the cover sheet shall be so filed. Objection by a party to certain parts of the request shall not relieve that party of the obligation to respond to those portions to which that party has not objected within the thirty-day period. The party serving the request or the notice of requests for production may move for an order under Section 13-14 with respect to any failure on the part of the party to whom the request or notice is addressed to respond.

(c)No objection to any such request shall be placed on the short calendar list until an affidavit by either counsel is filed certifying that bona fide attempts have been made to resolve the differences concerning the subject matter of the objection and that counsel have been unable to reach an accord. The affidavit shall set forth the date of the objection, the name of the party who filed the objection and the name of the party to whom the objection was addressed. The affidavit shall also recite the date, time and place of any conference held to resolve the differences and the names of all persons participating therein, or, if no conference has been held, the reasons for the failure to hold such a conference. If an objection to any part of a request for production is overruled, compliance with the request shall be made at a time to be set by the judicial authority.