ALL ABOUT SUBPOENAS IN CONNECTICUT!

If you are truly being serious as a self represented party, sooner or later you are going to have to send out Subpoenas to obtain your witnesses and documents that you need for trial. 

You know how we are admonished as self represented parties that we are going to be expected to follow all the procedures just the same as lawyers, etc., etc.  That doesn't mean that you have the same rights as lawyers, by any means.  So keep that in mind as you approach the issue of subpoenas. 

I believe that as Citizens of the United States of America we have the constitutional right to bring our witnesses to trial and to subpoena documents to trial.  Perhaps some of my readers who are particularly familiar with constitutional law can comment on this point.  However, if you are self represented, that so called right is somewhat curtailed. 

This means that you can't just fill out a Subpoena and call in your witness and/or demand documents.  To get a Subpoena, you must first fill out an Application for a Subpoena (Form JD-CV-62) and request permission to obtain such a Subpoena from a judge.  If the judge says, "No, you can't have a Subpoena." then you are stuck.  I mean, how successful are you going to be at trial if you aren't allowed to bring in your witnesses or obtain the evidence you need?  Not very successful, I can assure you. 

You would think that obtaining a witness for a trial or in order to conduct a deposition would be approved by judges as a matter of course.  In fact, this is not the case.  I have frequently been turned down when I applied for a Subpoena, and for no good reason as far as I can tell.  Here is some advice on how to go through the process of obtaining a Subpoena so that you are more likely to obtain one. 

Obtain Form JD-CV-62, the Application for a Subpoena, and fill it out completely.  Use only one form per person or per financial institution that you are sending it to.  I know it says that you can put in the names of two people, but don't.  It just causes confusion. 

Under the section where you are supposed to list the names and addresses of the people you are sending your Subpoena to, the form asks you to to finish up the statement "I believe testimony from this person is necessary because..."  Don't just write out a quick answer here of one or two sentences long. 

Instead, write up a formal affidavit explaining who the witness is, what relationship the witness has to the case, what specific information this witness will provide, and explain why this testimony is essential to your case and attach it to your application.  Make this affidavit at least one page long double spaced and typed and then have the affidavit notarized.  You can have this done for free by one of the assistants at the Court Service Center.  You are much more likely to get your application approved if you do this. 

If you submit an application without such an affidavit and you are turned down for a subpoena by the judge, simply resubmit your request with your attached affidavit explaining in detail why you need the Subpoena.  If you did include the affidavit, rewrite it and make it more forceful and again resubmit it. Just because you get turned down once, that is no reason for you to just give up.  When at first you don't succeed, try, try, try again! 

If you are turned down for a Subpoena and the judge continues to deny you that Subpoena, make sure that the case detail reflects that the Subpoena was denied.  I had four Subpoenas which a judge denied and the case detail listed them as "issued". 

You can imagine that when your case comes up for trial, and your own witnesses don't show up in response to Subpoenas that the court has on record were issued you will end up looking extremely bad.  Also, when the Appellate Court reviews your case on appeal, they will say, what's her problem, she got her Subpoenas.  And if the record says you got them, even though you didn't, who is in trouble?  That's right...you! 

So keep your eye on the case detail to be sure the outcome of your application as listed is accurate.  What happened when my Subpoenas were improperly listed as issued, when they were not, is that I spoke to the judge's clerk.  She acknowledged they had not been issued, but because once a statement is put into the case detail, even if wrongly, they aren't able or allowed or desirous of fixing the "mistake" (or what we suspect is a deliberate misrepresentation!) so instead what the clerk did was replace the entry saying the subpoena had been issued with a statement that the subpoena entry had been moved.  I am not sure what that means, but it sounded better than that it had been issued when it hadn't been! 

Can you believe that the Court plays all these games with Self Represented Parties.  You always have to be on your guard with the Court.  

In addition, if the judge refuses to allow you a Subpoena to bring your witnesses to Court, at some point during the trial, remember to make one or two additional requests for Subpoenas for your witnesses during the trial, and object when the Judge denies you the Subpoenas.  That way, not only do you have a written record of that denial in the case detail, you have a transcript indicating you repeated your request for Subpoenas and that you objected when the request was denied.  This will provide a strong record to the Appellate Court indicating that you wanted Subpoenas and you were not silent and that you objected when those Subpoenas were denied.  This is very important when it comes to an appeal.

Once you have filled out the Application for the Subpoena, you then have to fill out the actual Subpoena which gets sent out.  Be sure to write in the date and time of trial or the deposition you are requiring the witness to come to, and remember to put in the telephone number of the ADA Coordinator in your area if the witness may need assistance getting to the Courthouse. 

Once the Subpoena is approved by the judge, it must be hand delivered to the witness by a Marshall (a proper officer or indifferent person), who will then provide certification to the court that the document was physically given to your witness. 

To obtain a Marshall go the Court Service Center or the Trial Clerk's office and obtain a list of available Marshalls.   Such a list is also available online on the Judicial Website.  For your information, a Marshall sits around in the Court Service Center for one hour during lunch and another hour later in the afternoon waiting for litigants who need assistance.  The problem with these particular Marshalls is that sometimes they have a considerable number of documents they need to deliver and they might not get to your subpoena until two or three or even more days after they receive it.  So if you need your subpoena delivered without any kind of delay because your trial is happening soon or you need those documents quickly, I wouldn't use the Marshalls at the Court Service Center.  And you are well within your rights to ask a Marshall when exactly he intends to deliver the Subpoena. 

You will receive confirmation that the Marshall delivered the Subpoena in the mail, and he will also put a confirmation in your court file. 

The cost of a Marshall is variable or negotiable depending upon how you strike him.  If he thinks you are rich, you can go as high as $70.00, but if you come across as less wealthy, you can pay around $40.00 or so.  Usually the Marshall at the Court Service Center charges less.  Otherwise, if you are truly desperate and can't afford these charges, you can apply for a Fee Waiver.  For further information regarding Subpoenas, check the judicial website at:

http://www.jud.ct.gov/forms/grouped/civil/subpoena.htm