My question involves court procedures for the state of: IL

Procedure & what's next: Plaintiff stated Affirmative defense of statute of limitations had passed & presented an e-mail to support - Our lawyer filed motion to dismiss - but didn't include any real factual evidence (documents) - . The judge sent an order that there was enough fact to let tier of fact to determine if defense of statute of limitations is warranted.

Question: what happens next? Is Defendant allowed to provide facts or evidence that supports that there was no knowledge of the circumstance plaintiff referred to so the statute of limitations shouldn't run from that date. This lawyer had the information, documents and much more facts that could have been submitted early - but believes in not overburdening the judge or providing long detailed motions.