Sarver v. Barrett Ace Hardware, Inc.

Ronald W. Sarver, plaintiff, and Noel C. Lindenmuth, his attorney, join in an appeal from an order of the Circuit Court of Will County finding the attorney guilty of contempt for failure to comply with certain discovery orders entered by the trial court. The issue is specifically whether the scope of discovery in the State of Illinois is broad enough to allow the physical testing of tangible objects, even where such testing may alter or destroy the item through a so-called “destructive testing.”

The action in the cause before us arose from a products liability suit by plaintiff Ronald Sarver,…