I’ve received a subpoena – what do I do now?

What is a subpoena?

A subpoena is an order from the court for a person or company to attend court to give evidence in relation to an ongoing court case. This may be in the form of providing documents or oral evidence.

 What to do when you receive a subpoena?

It is important that you do not ignore a subpoena when you receive one. A subpoena is an order of the court, if you do not comply with it, you will likely be found in contempt of court.

 You should respond to a subpoena in one of two ways:

1. Comply with the subpoena; OR
2. Seek to have the subpoena set aside.

 Complying with a subpoena

The subpoena should have the following details on it to help you comply with it:

1. The details of the ongoing court case:
2. What written or oral evidence you are required to produce;
3. When and where to produce that evidence.

 In addition the subpoena should enclose conduct money, this is essentially payment for the time you will put in to comply with the subpoena.

 Seeking to have the subpoena set aside

There are several bases on which the Court will set aside a subpoena. The two most common are:

1. the subpoena is too oppressive – meaning that the time, work and effort put into complying with the subpoena are overly burdensome;
2. the evidence sought in the subpoena is irrelevant – evidence sought by a subpoena must be relevant to the facts in issue in the ongoing court case. If the subpoena seeks irrelevant information it is likely to be set aside.

If you have further questions, please contact us at frank@franklaw.com.au.

This is not legal advice.