Responding to a Civil Subpoena for Documents or Testimony

A civil subpoena is a court order that requires you to produce documents, give testimony, or both — usually in a lawsuit you are not part of. It cannot be ignored. It also cannot demand whatever the sender wants. In federal court, Rule 45 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure requires the party issuing a subpoena to take reasonable steps to avoid imposing undue burden or expense, gives a recipient 14 days after service to serve written objections to a documents demand, and limits how far a person can be compelled to travel to testify. State courts use similar structures with different deadlines and different numbers.

Read the subpoena before you do anything else

Three details on the face of the document determine your response.

• What it commands. Documents only, attendance at a deposition, attendance at a hearing or trial, or an inspection of premises or electronic systems.
• Which court issued it. The subpoena issues from the court where the case is pending, and that determines which rules apply.
• The compliance date and place. This sets both the production deadline and your objection deadline.

Note who signed it. In federal practice an attorney of record may issue and sign a subpoena as an officer of the court, which surprises people who expect a judge's signature. It is still enforceable. The complete text is at Cornell's page for Rule 45.

Note: A subpoena to a non-party is not the same as a discovery request between parties. Parties exchange documents under the requests described in our guide to discovery disputes and motions to compel; non-parties are reached by subpoena.

The limits Rule 45 builds in

The most practical protection is geographic. A federal subpoena can command a person to attend a deposition, hearing, or trial only within 100 miles of where that person lives, works, or regularly transacts business in person. A party or an officer of a party can be required to attend trial anywhere within the state under a narrower rule. Document production, by contrast, does not require anyone to travel at all — materials are typically sent to the requesting lawyer.

The second protection is substantive. The issuing party has an affirmative duty to avoid undue burden and expense, and the court must enforce it, which can include sanctions. The scope of what may be demanded is also bounded by the general proportionality limits on discovery in Rule 26 — relevance to a claim or defense, weighed against burden.

Written objections and the 14-day window

For a documents subpoena, written objections are the workhorse. They are served on the party or attorney who issued the subpoena — not filed with the court — and once served, the recipient does not have to produce the objected-to material unless the issuing party obtains a court order compelling it.

The window is short: 14 days after service, or before the compliance date if that comes sooner. Missing it does not always forfeit every argument, but it removes the cleanest route and shifts the burden onto the recipient.

Watch out: Objections must be specific. A blanket assertion that a request is "overbroad and burdensome," with no explanation of what the burden actually is, is routinely rejected. Describe the volume, the systems involved, the hours required, and what a narrower request would look like.

Grounds courts take seriously

A court must quash or modify a subpoena that fails to allow a reasonable time to comply, exceeds the geographic limits, requires disclosure of privileged material with no exception applying, or subjects a person to undue burden. It may quash or modify one that requires disclosure of trade secrets or certain unretained expert opinion.

Privilege claims have to be described, not merely asserted. The rule requires an express claim supported by a description of the withheld material sufficient to let the other side assess it — in practice, a privilege log listing date, author, recipients, and the basis for withholding.

Producing documents and giving testimony

If you are producing, do it in a defensible way. Records should be produced as they are kept in the ordinary course of business or organized to correspond to the categories requested. Electronically stored information should come in a reasonably usable form; you do not have to produce the same material in more than one format.

1. Issue a hold. Stop routine deletion of anything within the subpoena's scope as soon as it arrives.
2. Map the sources. Identify custodians, systems, shared drives, and messaging platforms before searching.
3. Search and review. Apply agreed search terms, then review for privilege and for confidential third-party information.
4. Log and redact. Withhold privileged material with a log; redact personal identifiers where the court's rules require it.
5. Confirm the production. Send a cover letter describing what was searched, what was produced, and what was withheld and why.

Testimony has its own preparation. A deposition subpoena to an organization can require it to designate someone to testify on stated topics, which means preparing a witness on the entity's knowledge rather than their personal memory. Recorded testimony and any recordings you may hold raise separate consent questions, discussed in our article on recording calls and meetings.

Who pays, and what becomes public

Federal practice provides a witness attendance fee and mileage, set by statute and paid at the time of service; the amounts are modest and are published by the courts rather than fixed here. Where compliance imposes significant expense, a court order compelling production must protect a non-party from significant expense, which can mean cost-shifting onto the requesting party.

Documents produced under subpoena are not automatically public. They become public only if filed with the court and not sealed. The federal judiciary explains public access to filings on its court records page, and the same distinction between produced material and filed material comes up when people seek official footage, as covered in our piece on obtaining body-worn camera footage and police records.

If the subpoena reaches material you consider sensitive, ask for a protective order rather than simply refusing. Courts routinely enter orders limiting who may see produced material and requiring its return or destruction at the end of the case. Admissibility is a separate question later, handled under the rules described in our explainer on authentication, hearsay, and exhibits.

Common questions

I am not part of this lawsuit. Do I still have to respond?

Yes. A subpoena is directed at you personally or at your organization, regardless of whether you are a party. Failing to respond without an adequate excuse can result in contempt proceedings. Being a non-party does give you extra protections — undue burden arguments carry more weight, and courts can require the requesting side to bear significant costs — but those protections have to be invoked, not assumed.

Can I just call the lawyer who sent it?

That is usually the right first move, and it should be followed with an email confirming what was agreed. Most subpoena disputes are resolved by narrowing date ranges, custodians, or categories. Keep the written record: an oral extension that nobody documented is worth very little if the issuing party later moves to compel. A phone call does not replace timely written objections.

What if the documents belong to a customer or employee?

Notify them if you can, and say so in your response. Many subpoenas reach records about people who have no idea the case exists. Depending on the material, statutory notice rules may apply, and the person may want to move to quash on their own behalf. Producing sensitive third-party records without notice is the fastest route to a second dispute.

Is a state court subpoena enforceable in another state?

Not by itself. Reaching a witness or records located in a different state usually requires a procedure that turns the out-of-state subpoena into one issued by a court where the witness is. Many states have adopted a uniform act that makes this largely clerical, but the step cannot be skipped. Federal subpoenas operate nationwide, subject to the geographic limits on compelled attendance.

Your first 14 days, in order

1. Day 1

   Diary the compliance date and the objection deadline. Suspend automatic deletion of anything arguably in scope.

2. Days 2 to 5

   Scope the burden. Estimate volume, systems, and hours so any objection can be specific and credible.

3. Days 5 to 10

   Contact the issuing attorney with a proposed narrowing, in writing, and ask for an extension if you need one.

4. By day 14

   Serve written objections if no agreement is reached. Do not let the deadline pass because negotiations feel promising.

5. After

   Produce on the agreed scope with a cover letter and privilege log, or move to quash or modify in the court the rule identifies.

Practical step: Identify the issuing court on the federal courts directory or through the state judiciary links at USA.gov, then read that court's local rules on subpoenas before drafting a word. Local practice frequently adds a conferral requirement the national rule does not.