HOW TO DOMESTICATE A FOREIGN SUBPOENA IN Nevada
A valid subpoena in Nevada will identify the issuing court, include the name and address of the party or attorney issuing the subpoena, and require the person to whom it is issued to do one or more of the following at a specified time and location. When issuing a subpoena for a deposition, it is important to specify how the witness's testimony will be recorded.
A subpoena for attendance at a deposition, hearing, or trial may include or specify a subpoena to produce papers, electronically stored information, physical goods, or permission to investigate premises. A subpoena may include a preferred format or format for information that is held digitally. The court where the case is currently being heard is the only one authorized to issue subpoenas.
Uniform Interstate Depositions and Discovery Act (UIDDA)-Nevada
In the event that a party demands a subpoena, the clerk is obligated to provide a signed but otherwise blank document as per UIDDA and Nevada requirements. A subpoena may also be issued and signed by an attorney admitted to practice in the court that issued the UIDDA and Nevada subpoena. At least seven days prior to UIDDA and Nevada service on the person to whom it is directed, a notice and copy of the subpoena must be served on each party to allow a party to object to the subpoena and seek issuance of a protective order against the subpoena. This is especially important if the subpoena requires the production of documents, electronically stored information, tangible things, or the inspection of premises before trial.
When a party files and serves timely objections and an application for a protective order because of concerns about privilege, secrecy, or other protections, the subpoena cannot be served until the court that issued the UIDDA and Nevada document rules on the objections and moves. An authorized subpoena may be served by anyone over eighteen who is not a party to the proceeding. The party issuing the subpoena is responsible for paying the witness's travel expenses and a fee equivalent to one day of attendance. When the subpoena is issued by the State or one of its officials or agencies, the subpoenaed party is not required to provide any compensation, including fees and travel.
OUT-OF-STATE DISCOVERY IN NEVADA
It is possible to serve a subpoena in a different US jurisdiction if the UIDDA and Nevada laws allow it. When conducting discovery in Nevada, it is necessary to transmit a subpoena issued by a court in another state or territory to the clerk of the district court in the county in which the witness or defendant resides.
When UIDDA and Nevada service must be proven, a statement detailing the date, method, and names of those served must be filed with the issuing court. Having the server verify the UIDDA and Nevada assertion is necessary. Subpoenas should not be issued or served in a manner that causes excessive hardship or cost to the party or attorney being subpoenaed. A party or attorney that fails to comply with a subpoena may be subject to appropriate sanctions, such as lost wages and reasonable legal costs, as determined by the court that issued the subpoena.
Unless required to present for a deposition, hearing, or trial, a person who is ordered to provide papers, electronically stored information, or physical goods or to permit the inspection of premises is not required to appear in person at the location of production or inspection. UIDDA and Nevada documents requested in response to a subpoena must be provided in the same format in which they were originally maintained or must be sorted and labeled in accordance with the categories specified in demand. In the absence of a form specification in a subpoena, the party replying must provide the requested UIDDA and Nevada information in the form or forms in which it is typically held or in formats reasonably useable by the requesting party.
Serving a subpoena on a witness requires at least seven days' notice to the opposing parties. UIDDA and Nevada service of a subpoena may be delayed. At the same time, the court considers whether or not to issue a protective order in response to a timely objection alleging that the subpoena requires disclosure of privileged, secret, or other protected information. UIDDA and Nevada service of a subpoena will not be stayed solely because of an objection or a motion for a protective order based on grounds other than privilege, confidentiality, or other recognized protection from disclosure, such as the work product doctrine; the objecting party must apply to the court for relief as with any other motion under Rule 26.
HOW TO SERVE AN OUT-OF-STATE SUBPOENA
A ‘subpoena’ is defined as any instrument issued by a court of record with the ability to compel the individual to participate in a deposition by giving testimony; or to provide access to and allow examination and duplication of specified books, papers, records, electronically stored information, or physical items within the person's ownership, custody, or control.
One must submit a foreign subpoena to the clerk of a court in the county where discovery is to be performed as per the UIDDA and Nevada for a subpoena to be issued. Seeking a subpoena in Nevada does not constitute a court presence in this State. Whenever a party files a foreign subpoena with a court clerk, the clerk must quickly issue a subpoena for UIDDA and Nevada service upon the person to whom the foreign subpoena is addressed, in accordance with the process of that court.
The subpoena must include the language of the foreign subpoena and all counsel of record in the action to which the subpoena pertains, as well as the names, addresses, and telephone numbers of any party not represented by counsel, which must be included in or appended to the subpoena. Submission of a motion to the court for the issuance of a protection order or the enforcement, revocation, or amendment of a subpoena. Subpoenas issued by the clerk of the court may be enforced, quashed, or modified by filing an appropriate motion with the court in the county where discovery is to be performed and in accordance with all relevant UIDDA and Nevada rules of court and laws.
A party seeking the issuance from the clerk of a subpoena for the purpose of taking a foreign deposition in the district must present and tender to the clerk [A.] copies of the papers required by the Uniform Foreign Depositions Act, [B.] cover sheet in the form required by Rule 7.20, with the title of the court as ‘Eighth Judicial District Court’ and not the foreign court in which the action is pending. The cover sheet must be described as ‘Request for Foreign Deposition Subpoena.’ Such filing fees may be required by UIDDA and Nevada law.
Upon compliance, the clerk must collect the required fee, assign a case number to the request, and retain for the clerk's records the copies of the papers as well as the cover sheet required. Subpoenas may then be issued and enforced in conformance with UIDDA and Nevada statutes. All subsequent proceedings involving the request or the issuance of a subpoena, including show cause proceedings, must be commenced by pleadings or papers bearing the case number as assigned.
UIDDA Nevada
Nevada's New Uniform Interstate Depositions and Discovery Act (2011 AB 97) and Rule 45 of the Nevada Rules of Civil Procedure went into effect on October 1, 2011. The National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws proposed the Uniform Interstate Depositions and Discovery Act in 2007 in response to complaints that existing uniform international discovery legislation lacked necessary provisions and was out of date. Both the Uniform Foreign Depositions Act and the Uniform Interstate and International Procedure Act, which came before it, deal with issues like the subpoenaing of witnesses and the production of documents by non-parties. Still, they were silent on the issue of inspections of premises and were more cumbersome.
In order to submit a subpoena in Nevada, an attorney licensed in another state must specify which county the discovery is being sought from (i.e., the residence of a Nevada witness or the headquarters of a Nevada company). Subpoenas issued in ‘foreign’ jurisdictions (the Act defines ‘foreign’ as the other forty-nine states, DC, and U.S. territories) must be submitted to the clerk of court for that county and ‘issued’ by the clerk.
A subpoena ‘for service onto the person to whom the international subpoena is addressed’ must be issued ‘promptly’ by county court clerks in accordance with the UIDDA and Nevada. The court will issue a subpoena, but it will be the attorney's responsibility to get it served on the witness. An out-of-state witness may be subpoenaed to come and testify in the same way and with the same procedure for taking testimony in Nevada.
An out-of-state party seeking to have a subpoena issued in Nevada must first submit a foreign subpoena to the clerk of a court in the appropriate county in Nevada where the deposition or discovery is to take place. The section of the bill lays out the steps the clerk must take to issue the in-state subpoena that does not yet appear to be codified in NRS.
The regulation is significantly clearer than the prior UFDA while introducing an extra (and likely unneeded) ministerial stage. To establish jurisdiction over a deponent or person or entity issued with a ‘foreign’ subpoena, all the clerk has to do is ‘reissue’ the subpoena. The subpoena, once issued, is governed by the same substantive law as any other subpoena issued in the state of Nevada.
Nevada
Uniform Interstate Depositions and Discovery Act Adopted - 2011
Bill Number: AB 87 Sponsor Segerblom
NEV. REV. STAT. § 53.170
Subpoena & Civil Cover Sheet Forms Click Here
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1. To comply with a subpoena's request for papers, electronic information, or physical objects, the respondent must allow for the materials to be examined, copied, tested, and sampled
2. After receiving notice under Rule 45(a)(4)(A) that another party intends to serve a subpoena duces tecum on a third party that will require disclosure of privileged, confidential, or other protected matter, to which no exception or waiver applies, the receiving party may file and serve written objections to the subpoena and a motion for a protective order.
3. Uniform Interstate Depositions and Discovery Act mean NRS 53.100 to 53.200, inclusive.
4. Service and execution of subpoenas are governed by section 53.180 of the Nevada Revised Statutes.
Rule 45 of the Nevada Rules of Civil Procedure or Rule 45 of the Justice Court Rules of Civil Procedure governs the service and enforcement of a subpoena issued by the clerk of a court according to NRS 53.170.
5. The requirement to establish consistency of the law with regard to its subject matter across states that adopt the Uniform Interstate Depositions and Discovery Act must be taken into account in implementing and interpreting the Act.
6. The federal Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act, 15 U.S.C. 7001 et seq., is modified, limited, and superseded by NRS 53.250 to 53.390, inclusive. However, Section 101(c) of that Act, 15 U.S.C. 7001(c), and the authorization of electronic delivery of any of the notices described in Section 103(b) of that Act, 15 U.S.C. (b).
7. The requirement to establish consistency of the law with regard to its subject matter among states that enact it must be taken into account in implementing and construing NRS 53.250 to 53.390, inclusive.
8. Nev. R. Prac. Eight Jud. Dist. Ct. 2.80
9. The Commissioners heavily relied on Rule 45 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure in their efforts to create a uniform act allowing out-of-state subpoenas to be issued pursuant to a procedure that can be easily and efficiently followed, that has a minimum of judicial oversight and intervention, that is cost-effective for the litigants, and that is fair to the deponents.’
10. Assemblyman Richard ‘Tick’ Segerblom, a veteran Nevada labor and employment attorney, was the bill's primary sponsor, and the Nevada legislature unanimously approved it. Governor Brian Sandoval signed the bill into law in March. The move brought Nevada into compliance with the Uniform Interstate Depositions and Discovery Act, which had already been adopted by fifteen other states and the District of Columbia.
