• FreeAdvice has a new Terms of Service and Privacy Policy, effective May 25, 2018.
    By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our Terms of Service and use of cookies.

Received Supoena in a Civil Case

Accident - Bankruptcy - Criminal Law / DUI - Business - Consumer - Employment - Family - Immigration - Real Estate - Tax - Traffic - Wills   Please click a topic or scroll down for more.

Crispix

Member
I'm the owner of an LLC in CA. We received a supoena for a civil case filed in Florida. The plaintiff is a former employee that I fired at the end of last year. He is apparently suing a Florida company in a civil matter.

The defendant, this Florida company, issued the supoena, and it was issued by the US District Court Southern District of California. The supoena state that:

"You are commanded to produce and permit inspection and copying of the following documents:
Any and all files, records, and/or other documents, without limitation or exception, pertaining to the employment, applications for employment, performance, reviews, performance evaluations, salary increases or decreases, list of duties for positions, resumens, documents evidencing days and times worked, overtime, abscenses, [ the list goes on and on ... ] the entire personnel file and any and all other documents related to [name of former employee."

It also states "records may be mailed in lieu of appearance".

My questions:
1. Am I legally required to respond? I suspect the answer is yes.

2. Do I really have to mail in a stack of documents to some lawyer in Florida? How about I tell them I'll make the documents available if they want to come here and copy them? Would that satisfy the supoena? I doubt they'd actually fly out here to do that. Would that get me off the hook?

3. The list of documents in the supoena is overwhelming, and I want to do as little as possible. I don't have everything they are asking for. Since this employee was fired for cause, I have some notes and documentation about his poor performance, and I'm sure that's what they are mostly after. What would be a reasonable response? A copy of some pay stubs, my notes about his termination, his original offer letter, and that's it?

Thanks for the advice.
 


seniorjudge

Senior Member
1. Am I legally required to respond? I suspect the answer is yes.

A: You are correct.


2. Do I really have to mail in a stack of documents to some lawyer in Florida? How about I tell them I'll make the documents available if they want to come here and copy them? Would that satisfy the supoena? I doubt they'd actually fly out here to do that. Would that get me off the hook?

A: Talk to the lawyer who sent the subpoena.


3. The list of documents in the supoena is overwhelming, and I want to do as little as possible. I don't have everything they are asking for. Since this employee was fired for cause, I have some notes and documentation about his poor performance, and I'm sure that's what they are mostly after. What would be a reasonable response? A copy of some pay stubs, my notes about his termination, his original offer letter, and that's it?

A: Again, talk to the lawyer who sent the subpoena.


I am NOT licensed in the Federal courts and am totally unfamiliar with Federal procedure. You cannot, however, ignore this. I suggest you hire a lawyer who is licensed in the Federal courts (preferably in Florida).
 

Rexlan

Senior Member
Since you are not a party to the suite you do not need to hire an attorney and you are not required to incur any expense to comply with the subpoena.

"Produce and permit inspection and copying of the following documents:" is boilerplate language and it simply means that you must make the documents available for that purpose. Customarily these would be mailed; however, if the request is too broad, or overreaching, then you can ask them to specifically identify the exact documents they wish to see. They are not entitled to a fishing expedition at you expense.

I would formally reply and offer to allow all relevant documents to be inspected and copied at you place of business where the records are normally maintained during normal business hours by prior arrangement. Be sure the case reference is cited in the reply. In the alternate, if there is a single document they can identify you can offer to mail them that single copy.

I would leave it at that and send the reply return receipt. Not a bad idea to also send a copy to the Clerk for the file. If you do, you can simply fax the reply to the Defendant and subsequently verify that the clerk got the copy.

They will need to make arrangement to send someone there or they will need to get an Order to Compel from the Court which will be almost impossible in this circumstance.
 

Crispix

Member
I would formally reply and offer to allow all relevant documents to be inspected and copied at you place of business where the records are normally maintained during normal business hours by prior arrangement. Be sure the case reference is cited in the reply. In the alternate, if there is a single document they can identify you can offer to mail them that single copy.
Thank you very much for the detailed response.
 

Find the Right Lawyer for Your Legal Issue!

Fast, Free, and Confidential
data-ad-format="auto">
Top