Section 8100.2130  Discovery

a)         Discovery shall not be the subject of motions presented to the hearing officer, except as provided in Section 8100.2120 of this Part.

b)         Upon written request served on the opposing party, any party shall be entitled to:

1)         the name, business and home addresses and telephone number, if available, of each witness who may be called to testify;

2)         copies of each document which may be offered as evidence; and

3)         a description of any other evidence which may be offered.

c)         The above information will be provided within ten (10) days of service of a written request.

d)         Whether or not a request is made, during discovery a respondent shall be entitled to:

1)         any exculpatory evidence in the Department's possession.  Exculpatory evidence is any evidence which tends to support the respondent's position or to call into question the credibility of a Department witness; and

2)         copies of any investigative report which purports to be a memorandum of interview of the respondent.

e)         Upon a written request served on the respondent at any time after a Notice of Hearing is filed, or at any stage of the hearing, the respondent will be required to produce within ten (10) days of service of a written request non privileged documents, books, records or other evidence which relate to the issues set forth in the Notice of Hearing.

f)          No file of a Department examiner, investigator or attorney shall be subject to discovery except as stated in subsection (d) above relating to exculpatory evidence and memoranda of interviews of a respondent.

g)         In accordance with Section 8100.2136 of this Part, in large or complex cases, at the discretion of the hearing officer, a pre-hearing conference with the parties and the hearing officer may be scheduled in appropriate cases.  Consistent with the expedited nature of administrative hearings, the hearing officer may, at the pre-hearing conference, establish the extent of and schedule for the production of relevant documents and other information, including the deposition of witnesses.

h)         Subject to constitutional privileges and to grants of confidentiality under the Act and the Illinois Freedom of Information Act (Ill. Rev. Stat., ch. 116, par. 201 et seq.) a party may serve on any other party a written request for the admission by the latter of the truth of any specified relevant fact set forth in the request or for the admission of genuineness of any relevant documents described in the request.  Copies of the documents shall be served with the request unless copies have already been furnished.  The failure of a party to respond to a request within ten (10) days of service shall be deemed to be an admission thereof.

i)          These provisions shall be construed to impose a continuing obligation upon the parties to exchange new information as it becomes available.

j)          The hearing officer, upon application of any party to a proceeding where there has been a failure to abide by the discovery provisions herein, is authorized to take the following actions:

1)         limitation of evidence;

2)         substitution of written argument in place of oral argument; and

3)         exclusion of an attorney from the proceeding for conduct that impeded an orderly determination of the rights of the parties.