A subpoena is a legal document that commands an individual or entity to appear at a specified time and place for testimony, and/or to produce documents and records as requested in the subpoena. The term "subpoena" is Latin for "under penalty" – an ominous translation but one that demonstrates the importance of taking any subpoena seriously upon receipt. Businesses often receive subpoenas asking them to provide documents or records.
Rule 45 of the Nevada Rules of Civil Procedure outlines the procedures for sending and responding to subpoenas issued from Nevada courts. Subpoenas from Federal Courts follow similar procedures. Under NRCP 45(d), a subpoena recipient has two duties when receiving a subpoena asking for production of documents: (1) to produce any requested documents as they are kept in the usual course of business, or to label documents to correspond with the categories set forth in the subpoena; and (2) to state the basis for withholding any documents if documents are not produced.
If the subpoena recipient believes that the documents are protected from production due to confidentiality, privilege, or any other basis, the recipient may object to the subpoena by outlining its objections in writing to the subpoena sender. Any objection must be made within 19 days of receipt of the subpoena. This is usually done through a formal letter to the attorney or law firm who prepared the subpoena, outlining the reasons for objecting to the subpoena. Often times, a subpoena asks for a broad range of documents and an objection letter can request that the subpoena be narrowed or modified so that it is more feasible to respond to it.
If an objection is timely made, the party attempting to obtain documents through a subpoena may either modify the terms of the subpoena to address the objection, or it could bring a motion to compel responses. If a motion is brought to the court which issued the subpoena, a decision will be made by a judge regarding whether or not the objection is valid and the court will decide what documents, if any, the subpoena recipient must produce.
The one thing that a business or individual should not do when receiving a subpoena is ignore it. Ignoring a subpoena could expose the recipient to sanctions for contempt of a court order, including but not limited to payment of attorney fees and costs associated with the subpoena sender going to court to enforce the subpoena.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.