Legal Question in Civil Rights Law in New York

Re: Being Subpoenia'd

You have no choice but to obey a valid subpoena, unless you go to court for a protective order and you have a compelling legal reason why you should not be a witness. The Fifth Amendment does not apply, as this is not a criminal matter. Your truthful testimony about what you know from direct observation, not hearsay, compelled by subpoena, should not be a cause for your firing. You have no choice in the matter. Consult an attorney in your town for a full explanation of your rights and obligations in this situation.

Re: Being Subpoenia'd

If you have been served with a subpoena, you must show up unless you have an attorney "quash" the subpoena. However, quashing a subpoena is a difficult thing to do, and usually there must be grounds to do so.

If you sister was injured on your employer's property, that is why your employer buys insurance, to protect it from this form of liability. Your employer is not paying the bill directly, but an insurance company, one that took money to insure this risk, is.

You have an obligation to go and tell the truth. You do not have an obligation to favor one side or the other. You have an obligation to say what happened, what you saw, and what you know from your own observation. You do not have to testify in any particular way.

Your employer may resent your testimony against it, but it would be unlawful to retaliate against you for speaking the truth in court or in a deposition. It is, of course, true that your employer can probably fire you for any reason or no reason, and thus it might be difficult to prove that you were fired because you gave testimony for your sister. But if this were Joe the Pizza Delivery Guy who subpoenaed you, you would be under the same obligation to testify truthfully, and your relationship to the plaintiff would not be an issue.

Your best bet is to ask to speak to the attorney defending your employer and ask to discuss what questions you might be asked. Tell this attorney you wish to cooperate with the defense and that you are a reluctant witness. This information will be communicated back to your employer.

Under no circumstances should you testify falsely,(that is criminal perjury) and under no circumstances should you ignore the subpoena or refuse to testify, as this could be considered contempt of court.

Best of luck to you.

Re: Being Subpoenia'd

Dear Reader:

In examining this response, please note that we are not entering into an attorney/client relationship, that this is to be taken as informative, and not as legal advice, that it is always best to speak to a lawyer in your area and/or in the area where the transaction and/or events occurred, and that my answer is necessarily limited by the fact that I have not seen the documentation or had an opportunity to go over the matters with you in detail.

I concur with previous responses that it will be difficult, if not impossible, to ultimately avoid having to testify. If you are going to testify, you must tell the truth as you know it, or you may refuse to answer if some constitutional or other genuine reason permits you to do so.

And even if you can't persuade your sister not subpoena you, your employer might subpoena you if it thinks it will help its side.

You can and perhaps should have a lawyer examine the situation beforehand, and he/she can be present during your testimony so you can consult him/her as it goes along so your rights don't get violated.

As I mentioned before, this is something that you will want to take up with a lawyer of your own selection, either in your state or area or in a place where some of the pertinent events occurred.

Rod Kovel

Attorney at Law

516-312-9900