Legal Question in Civil Litigation in New York

Re: Do I need to serve the subpoena

You are obligated to honor the subpoena however you may move to quash it, and not abide by its request, if you can show the court that the information it seeks is irrelevant, protected by privilege or not entitled to the party serving it.

Feel free to contact me should you wish to discuss this matter further or need assistance.

Kind regards,

Peter Moulinos

Re: Do I need to serve the subpoena

Depending on the nature of the subpoena and the information being sought you may be required to. You should speak to an attorney and possibly retain counsel so that your non-profit's interests are represented and protected.

Should you like to discuss this or any other legal matter, you can e-mail me for more information about low cost face-to-face, on-line, or a telephone consultation with a lawyer in our office.

Re: Do I need to serve the subpoena

I understand your problem.

You don't want to act frivolously in the face of legal; process and you also don't want to divulge personal information on a member of your organization or the inner workings of your organization.

It is possible to 'quash' or make a subpoena unenforceable. But you must have a reason. Appropriate reasons are: the information is not relevant to the legal action, the information is protected as confidential, privilaged, or private, and others.

In any event, no consequences will adhere to your inaction unless a court ordered subpoena as opposed to an attorney subpoena is issued.

You are welcome to a consultation for no fee.

Re: Do I need to serve the subpoena

There are two different questions here- do you have to personally attend, and do you have to provide the requested documents.

If it is a subpoena duces tecum, they will probably be satisfied with the documents only, and you can call and ask the attorney whose name is on the subpoena.

As to production of the documents, if there are genuine issues of confidentiality, trade secret, or similar reasons not to disclose them, other then not wanting to do so, the appropriate way to go about this is to hire an attorney and move to quash the subpoena, or obtain a protective order as to the documents.

Re: Do I need to serve the subpoena

You must comply with the subpoena. You cannot disregard it. If you ignore it, you can be held in contempt of court.

Daniel Clement