It happens more often than attorneys or their clients want: they have a law suit pending and as they are gathering information, facts, records, witnesses and testimony getting ready for trial, one of the witnesses is someplace else.

For example, the  witness is in New York, even though the case is in Pennsylvania or Florida, California or Toronto, or anywhere else outside New York.

To make matters worse, this witness, who is not a party to the action, that is, not across the “v,” like in “Smith v Jones” and the witness is neither Smith nor Jones, this  witness does not want to help. Your witness does not want to testify, does not want to hand over records, or anything else.

Maybe your witness is busy with running his or her own life or business. Maybe your witness is scared (who wants to raise their right hand and swear to tell the truth, so help them God, under penalties of perjury?). No one. That’s who. Pretty much no one.

Meanwhile, litigants and counsel need to know what the witness knows to be ready to go to trial.

It used to be that if a litigant had a case outside New York and a nonparty witness in New York, there was one way to go about getting that witness’s testimony or documents or other information.

But recently, the legislature of New York state changed the law, which now gives litigants choices. Or at least, it gives many, if not all litigants choices on how to get the testimony or documents from the reluctant nonparty witness in New York.

Each of these choices lead to getting a valid, enforceable New York state subpoena issued to the witness, directing the witness to show up and testify, or hand over documentary evidence, make a location available for inspection, or some combination of these.

With the new law, and the new choices, there is new complication:

  • Does your case qualify to use the new law?
  • If it does qualify, is using the  new law the best thing to do for your case?
  • Or is using the old law the better way to go, even if you have a choice between the old law and the new law?
  • If determine that you are going to use the new law, then what? How to do it right? How to draft a New York subpoena which complies not only with the new law, but with all the other rules and requirements in New York which could make your subpoena crash and burn?

Former New York State Supreme Court Senior Court Attorney Allan R. Pearlman, Esq. has written, and just published a guide which answers these questions.

It is titled, New York Subpoena for Actions Outside New York: A Practitioner’s Guide to Navigating New York’s Arcane Procedural Rules so that You Can Get Your New York State Discovery and be Trial-Ready in Your Home State, While Saving Yourself Oodles of Hours and Thousands of Dollars.

This guide compares the old law with the new one, explains when a party can take advantage of the new law, which in many situations may be faster and less expensive than the old law (though not always!).

The guide provides the reader a basis of understanding so that where there is a choice between the old law and the new, litigant and counsel can, from a position of knowledge consider factors separate and in addition to the apparent possible  cost of getting a New York subpoena, so that litigant or counsel or both may make an informed decision in choosing between using the old law or the new one to get the New York subpoena they need.

The guide discusses not only the bare-bones requirements for drafting and issuing a New York subpoena, but also some of the procedural traps which can trip up even the most experienced New York state litigator.

The old saying is that “knowledge is power” and here, the guide endeavors to give counsel knowledge to draft and serve a New York subpoena which will withstand challenge, withstand a motion to quash, withstand a  motion for protective order, and provide a sufficient predicate for itself being enforced and for supporting a motion for contempt.

Counsel and litigants can have this immensely useful guide immediately as it has been published as a digital download. It is available right now at New York Subpoena for Actions Outside New York.

Get the guide now to get yourself trial ready. And save yourself ten times to 100 times the cost of this guide.