Legal Question in Consumer Law in New Jersey

Re: Need a sub-peona to see info on my phone records

Verizon obviously does not understand your issue. If they did, they would not be forcing the issue in this way. Here's why:

If you are correct, your complaint is against Verizon, not a third party. If it were against a third party, the solution would be to file suit against that party and then issue a subpoena to Verizon to get the records. However, since your complaint is with Verizon, your recourse is to sue Verizon and then get the records by means of a discovery request.

You could just ignore the bill and wait for Verizon to sue you (if ever). The problem with this is that they will cut off your service and report adversely on your credit. That isn't very satisfying.

You could sue them to correct the bill but, since this is equitable rather than legal relief, the suit must be brought in the Law Division of the Superior Court. This is more expensive.

In the alternative, you can pay the bill and then sue Verizon for the return of the overpayment. That makes the relief demanded money damages rather than equitable relief. That suit can be brought in Special Civil Part including the Small Claims court.

I don't recommend that you do any of the above without a lawyer to help you. If you had to ask the question about subpoenas, you are probably not familiar with the discovery rules and discovery is what will produce the information that you want. The other factor is that you should probably include a claim for violation of the NJ Consumer Fraud Act and that is not a matter for amatures either.

One more try with Verizon is in order. Make sure that you are speaking with a supervisor who understands that your alternative is to sue Verizon. Then give that person the number that you think should be excluded from your bill. They won't give you the "unavailable" number, but they can check their records against the information that you have given them. That may make the problem go away. If it does not, you can call my office. Let my staff know that the call is from Lawguru and the first consultation will be a no fee to you.

See also: http://info.corbettlaw.net/lawguru.htm