The Court granted a Motion to Quash a subpoena to a non-party. The subpoena was served on the non-party at its corporate offices in Texas, and demanded production of the requested documents in North Carolina. The non-party had no presence in North Carolina, but was licensed by the North Carolina Department of Insurance to do business in North Carolina.
The Court held that although there might be personal jurisdiction in North Carolina over the non-party, the Court’s subpoena power was not co-extensive with its jurisdiction. It stated "the existence of personal jurisdiction over a non-party foreign corporation, standing alone, is insufficient to extend the Court’s subpoena power to that corporation for purposes of a deposition or the production of documents."
Although North Carolina’s insurance law provides that a foreign insurer may be served with "process," that term refers to a summons and complaint in an action against the insurer, not a subpoena.