Rule 13-14. Order for Compliance; Failure To Answer or Comply with Order

(a) If any party has failed to answer interrogatories or to answer them fairly, or has intentionally answered them falsely or in a manner calculated to mislead, or has failed to respond to requests for production or for disclosure of the existence and contents of an insurance policy or the limits thereof, or has failed to submit to a physical or mental examination, or has failed to comply with a discovery order made pursuant to Section 1313, or has failed to comply with the provisions of Section 13-15, or has failed to appear and testify at a deposition duly noticed pursuant to this chapter, or has failed otherwise substantially to comply with any other discovery order made pursuant to Sections 13-6 through 13-11, the judicial authority may, on motion, make such order proportional to the noncompliance as the ends of justice require.

(b) Such orders may include the following:

(1) An order of compliance;

(2) The award to the discovering party of the costs of the motion, including a reasonable attorney's fee;

(3) The entry of an order that the matters regarding which the discovery was sought or other designated facts shall be taken to be established for the purposes of the action in accordance with the claim of the party obtaining the order;

(4) The entry of an order prohibiting the party who has failed to comply from introducing designated matters in evidence;

(5) An order of dismissal, nonsuit or default.

(c) The failure to comply as described in this section may not be excused on the ground that the discovery is objectionable unless written objection as authorized by Sections 13-6 through 13-11 has been filed.

(d) The failure to comply as described in this section shall be excused and the judicial authority may not impose sanctions on a party for failure to provide information, including electronically stored information, lost as the result of the routine, good-faith operation of a system or process in the absence of a showing of intentional actions designed to avoid known preservation obligations.

Committee Notes

(P.B. 1978-1997, Sec. 227.) (Amended June 28, 1999, to take effect Jan. 1, 2000; amended Aug. 24, 2001, to take effect Jan. 1, 2002; amended June 30, 2008, to take effect Jan. 1, 2009; amended June 20, 2011, to take effect Jan. 1, 2012; amended June 14, 2013, to take effect Jan. 1, 2014; amended June 12, 2015, to take effect Jan. 1, 2016; amended