I don’t think that there is anything worse than having a client get subpoenaed in a case to which it isn’t a party.  It didn’t want to be drawn into someone else’s problem, to have to scour its records to respond to an unanticipated and intrusive request for documents, and to have to deal with the expense of an outside lawyer to handle the mess.

The good news is that Rule 45 provides greater protection to a non-party responding to a subpoena than it does to a party responding to discovery.  Judge Conrad of the NC Business Court observed in a decision last week, Arris Group, Inc. v. CyberPower Systems (USA), Inc., 2017 NCBC 57, that “[t]he courts have an obligation to protect nonparties from burden and expense imposed without sufficient justification.”(quoting Bank of Am. Corp. v. SR Int’l Bus. Ins. Co., 2006 NCBC LEXIS 17, at *16.  Op. ¶13.

He outlined some of those protections:

  • the issuing party must “take reasonable steps to avoid imposing an undue burden or expense on a person subject to the subpoena.”Id. at *11 (quoting N.C. R. Civ. P. 45(c)(1)). Op. ¶13.
  • Also,“'[t]he court shall quash or modify the subpoena if’ the recipient demonstrates the existence of any enumerated grounds for objection, including privilege, unreasonableness,and undue burden." Op. ¶14 (quoting N.C.R. Civ. P. 55(c)(5)).
  • Furthermore, "[w]here the subpoena requests trade secrets or other confidential information, Rule 45 provides additional safeguards: the court may “quash or modify the subpoena” unless the issuing party “shows a substantial need for the testimony or material that cannot otherwise be met without undue hardship.” N.C. R. Civ. P. 45(c)(7) Op. ¶14.

Judge Conrad also relied on some federal court decisions on the difference between party and non-party status when dealing with discovery matters.  He said that: 

federal courts have also stressed the “distinction between a party and nonparty” in applying the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Beinin v. Ctr. for the Study of Popular Culture, No. C 06-2298 JW (RS), 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 22518, at *6 (N.D. Cal. Mar. 16, 2007).  Although parties to litigation must accept the “travails [of discovery] as a natural concomitant of modern civil litigation,” “[n]on-parties have a different set of expectations.” Papst Licensing GmbH & Co. KG v. Apple, Inc., No. 6:15-cv-1095, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 51274, at *9 (N.D. Ill. Apr. 4, 2017). Accordingly, “the fact of nonparty status may be considered by the court in weighing the burdens imposed in the circumstances.” Katz v. Batavia Marine & Sporting Supplies, Inc., 984 F.2d 422, 424 (Fed. Cir. 1993); see also Intermec Techs. Corp. v. Palm, Inc., No. C09-80098 MISC WHA, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 132759, at *7 (N.D. Cal. May 15, 2009)(holding that protections apply “doubly when the respondent is a non-party”).

Op. ¶15 (emphasis added).

So how did Delta Products (the non-party recipient of the Defendant’s subpoena) fare against this backdrop of accommodation to non-parties?  Delta came out pretty well, although not unscathed.

Continue Reading In-House Counsel’s Worst Nightmare: A Subpoena In A Case To Which The Company Is Not A Party

There a probably few things in legal practice as annoying as getting a Notice of Deposition for your client’s in-house counsel.

Are you willing to pursue a Motion for a Protective Order to prevent the deposition?  The Defendant in a case before the Business Court tried that, but its Motion was denied in an Order