Legal Question in Civil Rights Law in Illinois

Call the lawyer listed on the subpoena.

In Illinois, an individual that has "knowledge" of and knowingly disobeys a subpoena can be held in contempt of court. If the subpoena was sent via certified mail and you accepted it, your signature is prima facie proof of your receipt. If ther subpoena was personally served on you, that too is prima facie proof of knowledge. All that said, you can call the attorney issuing the subpoena (as suggesting by other counsel onthis site) but I doubt the attorney will agree to excuse you since s/he went to the trouble of issuing the subpoena. Once you make the call you have then admitted knowledge of the subpoena and you must obey it. As a general matter, our justice system relies on people obeying all lawful orders of a court in good faith. I have yet to meet a person that was happy to get a subpoena to testify or produce documents.