Legal Question in Civil Litigation in California

You are not required to pay the fees unless requested, but doing so when the subpoena is served personally keeps you a little in the good graces of the witness. Your have to make a reasonable calculation of what bridge tolls, parking, etc, from where ever the person will be coming from [that is fairly easy to do] and tell them if that is not enough you wil supplement it at the deposition [but not anything above the witness fees are as it is illegal to pay a witness any compensation beryond that].

Yes, you are responsible for calculating the subpoenaed parties' costs, such as the witness fee of $35 (assuming you are requiring personal appearance), plus mileage at the rate of $0.20 per mile. I usually print out a google map from their address to the place that the deposition will be held. If it is ten miles one way, I then double it to 20 miles so that their mileage is paid both ways. I multiply $0.20 times 20 to get the mileage reimbursement of $4. If there are copy costs, I usually wait for their request, then I ask them to supply me with a bill, or if they want me to copy the documents, I send my copy service to them to copy the original documents. Sometimes, it is cheaper to pay them for copies of their documents if they ask for payment in advance. Have a copy machine near where the deposition is being held so that original documents can be copied during the deposition.

Assuming it is just a witness fee for a half day of deposition plus mileage, then the process server should be prepared to hand them $39 ($35 witness fee plus $4 mileage - assuming 20 miles roundtrip to the deposition) IF THEY ASK FOR THE WITNESS FEE. If they do not ask for the witness fee, then you do not have to pay it. They may ask for it before they let you take their deposition. If they ask you for it then, I suggest that you fork it over, or they may not submit to the deposition.