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Did you know that an attorney who uses a subpoena to compel a witness to come in and testify
at a pre-trial deposition can get into a lot of trouble here in New York? Would you like
to learn why? Come join me as I share that information with you. Hi. I’m Gerry Oginski.
I’m a New York medical malpractice and personal injury trial attorney practicing law here
in the state of New York. A subpoena is a document that compels a witness to do something.
We’re either going to compel a witness to come into court and testify or we’re going
to use it to compel a doctor’s office or a hospital to deliver records to the court
so now we can use that in evidence in your trial. However, in past years did you know
that it was possible for an attorney to use a subpoena (document that allows someone to
compel someone to do something) and force them to actually come to a deposition (which
is a pre-trial question and answer session). Many years ago, lawyers in New York were allowed
to use that document to do that. However, things have changed and now if an attorney
tries to use that on their own; to get a witness to come and testify the attorney can get into
a lot of trouble. They can get sanctioned; they can get fined because it’s not proper
to do anymore. So what do we do if we want a witness to come in and testify during a
pre-trial deposition? If the witness that we want come in and testify is a party to
the lawsuit, they’ve been served before and now they’re part of the process, we
then notify their attorney and say “Hey listen, we need your client’s deposition.”
And then the attorney is then obligated to setup and schedule that question and answer
session. And if they refused to do that or if the witness refuses to come in, they now
have different ways to compel them to come in by going to the court and have the court
compel them to come in at a scheduled date and time. But what if this particular person,
who we want to come in and testify, is not part of the lawsuit? How do we actually get
their testimony? One of ways to do that is with something called a “non-party witness
subpoena.” And if they are in the state of New York, we can take a non-party witness
subpoena and actually deliver it to that particular person and compel them to come into court.
What will typically happen is we’re going to take that document – that non-party witness
subpoena, which simply a piece of paper that says hey you have certain facts and information
that’s relevant to this particular lawsuit. We want to question you at a question and
answer session, under oath, in my office. And now you need to come in at the appropriate
time. What happens is we give that piece of paper to a person who then delivers it to
that particular witness – that’s known as a process server. The witness who gets
it what they will typically do is they will get it, read it, and then they will hand it
over to their attorney. Their attorney will then get in touch with us and they will then
schedule the deposition. So why do I share this information with you? You know, I share
this information with you just to give you an insight and an understanding into the legal
process; into what goes on behind the scenes that you typically probably not familiar with.
Chances are you have questions and concerns about your particular matter. And if your
matter happened here in the state of New York and you have legal questions, what I encourage
you to do is pick up the phone and call me. I can answer your legal questions. I do this
every single day and I welcome your call. You can reach me at 516-487-8207 or by email
at lawmed10@yahoo.com. I’m Gerry Oginski, here in New York. Thanks so much for watching.