Help! Subpoena came at bad time...

My sister is joining me for our cruise leaving on Saturday... She is in a separate cabin with a friend.

She just got served with a subpoena and has to appear in court on Monday. She said the judge will not excuse her, even with proof of her trip. The lawyer is telling her to stay anyways because it will damage the case if she doesn't.

They are booked early saver. Are there any options???? :(

Must be some case if she's that important:eek:

Did she buy Travel insurance?

Tell her to bill the lawyers for her lost vacation.

Does she have insurance?

travel insurance has a clause for this

My sister is joining me for our cruise leaving on Saturday... She is in a separate cabin with a friend.

 

She just got served with a subpoena and has to appear in court on Monday. She said the judge will not excuse her, even with proof of her trip. The lawyer is telling her to stay anyways because it will damage the case if she doesn't.

 

They are booked early saver. Are there any options???? :(

Sure. Check your insurance policy.

Forgot to say, sadly we do not have insurance... I have been on multiple cruises and never needed it, so the thought did not occur to me... I guess lesson learned the hard way...

I guess at this point we will be praying that Destiny does NOT get her side thrusters fixed in time... so that we may be offered a refund anyways.

She just got served with a subpoena and has to appear in court on Monday. She said the judge will not excuse her, even with proof of her trip. The lawyer is telling her to stay anyways because it will damage the case if she doesn't.

Is she a party to the case in anyway? What kind of subpoena is it? Issued by the court or the judge? She should consult her own lawyer to see what her options are. The lawyer on the case that issued the subpoena obviously does not have her best interest represented. I would have her call the clerk of the court to find out exactly what her options are, and maybe a lawyer may be best because the courts tend to be more accommodating to attorneys.

I am an attorney, not your attorney. No attorney-client representation here.

Oh that sucks, I'm sorry!

Oh here is a thought. Tell the lawyer who issued the subpoena that she will do a phone testimony via the ships phone and HE CAN CALL HER ... LOL at $9.50 per minute using shore to ship number.:D

If she is having to be compelled to testify the one compelling her best be sure that she is going to testify in his or her favor! Is it a criminal case or civil? I have accommodated witnesses before by getting the other attorney to agree to their testifying by deposition and then simply having the deposition transcript read into the record at the trial, but there isn't much time to coordinate one and both attorneys would need to stipulate to her unavailability (at least in my jurisdiction, every state has it's own laws and rules about procedure). Also, if there is a jury involved the attorneys are unlikely to agree to that. She should also find out if it is merely a calender call or if it is a specially set hearing. If it is merely the first day of a week or two long trial calender the Court may be saying everyone needs to appear when in reality all the Court might be doing is calling all the cases, getting announcements and then scheduling the order of the cases, an out of town witness is usually plenty reason enough to get a case moved to the end of a calender. She may be able to get that information more efficiently from the Judge's office. I usually have witnesses on call only until I'm sure we are going forward on a particular morning. Of course she can't be on call from a ship!

Wow, that is a pain, the wheels of justice turn slowly and clumsily.....

Is this the way subpeonas work? You get 1 week of notice, and you're supposed to drop everything and appear?

- What if you had planned a large business meeting and people were traveling from different places to meet with you? Or what if you were expected to be at your client site without fail on Monday? Are you expected to lose your job because of this court case?

- What if you were already out of town or out of the country, not scheduled to return until the following week? Are they going to find you and track you down in Europe or Asia, and bring you back to the US for this court case?

Unless the OP is bending the truth a little, I find it completely unreasonable that someone is expected to drop everything on one week's notice.

i would take the cruise and tell the lawyers to pound sand - Talk to them when you return.

Seems to me that the side that wants/needs her to testify would want a happy witness.

Tell them you seem to be forgetting everything.....:p

Just kidding...hope you can get it worked out.

Is she a party to the case in anyway? What kind of subpoena is it? Issued by the court or the judge? She should consult her own lawyer to see what her options are. The lawyer on the case that issued the subpoena obviously does not have her best interest represented. I would have her call the clerk of the court to find out exactly what her options are, and maybe a lawyer may be best because the courts tend to be more accommodating to attorneys.

 

 

I am an attorney, not your attorney. No attorney-client representation here.

She is a witness. I don't know the other details. The case has already been delayed but she wasn't subpoenaed before. I know someone else in the case got arrested for not showing up on court at a previous date so she is really scared.

The other side has subpoenaed her but the lawyer on her side is the one telling her she shouldn't go even if she could get excused (which she couldn't) because it will hurt the case.

Is this the way subpeonas work? You get 1 week of notice, and you're supposed to drop everything and appear?

 

- What if you had planned a large business meeting and people were traveling from different places to meet with you? Or what if you were expected to be at your client site without fail on Monday? Are you expected to lose your job because of this court case?

- What if you were already out of town or out of the country, not scheduled to return until the following week? Are they going to find you and track you down in Europe or Asia, and bring you back to the US for this court case?

 

Unless the OP is bending the truth a little, I find it completely unreasonable that someone is expected to drop everything on one week's notice.

 

i would take the cruise and tell the lawyers to pound sand - Talk to them when you return.

If they can't find you to serve you a subponae, they cannot expect you to appear in court... If you do get served, by law, you must appear.

the lawyer on her side is the one telling her she shouldn't go even if she could get excused (which she couldn't) because it will hurt the case.

She really needs to call the clerk of courts and explain her situation. It doesn't sound like this lawyer has her best interests at heart.

I am not a lawyer and I am not giving legal advice.

I would say if it where my situation I would contact the witness advocate and then I would hire my own lawyer.

The first question I would ask ...is the the statutory time required for notice?

See if in example the required notice time is 7 days then the summons may not be legally served.

Third thing if first two failed, I would still contact the cruise line being prepared to fax in the court order signed by a judge and see if I could minimize my loss and get a cruise credit for a future cruise.

Once again these are just thoughts.

I had this same situation. My DH had a subpoena to appear as a witness in a criminal homicide case. Nothing could be changed. So I took my DS who was 6 months old at the time and we went on our week long beach vacation.

Good luck!

Not giving legal advice, but I agree that she should hire her own attorney and try to file something to keep her from appearing. I am not sure the Court Clerk is allowed to give her any advice. If all else fails, an attorney representing her should contact opposing counsel and explain the situation. It can't hurt.

Is this the way subpeonas work? You get 1 week of notice, and you're supposed to drop everything and appear?

NY has 24 hour notice requirements (generally). I have had instances where I have issued an attorney's subpoena the day before and directed someone to be there the next afternoon. Now, generally the court would grant leeway if the person has other reasons they can not attend. Sometimes you must issue these this quick because testimony reveals something someone else knew or can testify to that you were not planning.

As has been mentioned, talk to the court clerk, and the judge's clerk and explain the situation and how much money she would be out. Generally Judges are accommodating to witnesses in situations like this, because as was mentioned it could only be a calendar or a motion call, and they may not actually take testimony until later in the week.

She could also talk to the attorney issuing the subpoena and try to reschedule it to when she gets back, or a deposition read into the record as someone mentioned.

The lawyer that told her not to show up does not have her best interests in mind, and frankly is probably breaking part of the Ethics Rules (Not sure about in his jurisdiction).

I am a lawyer, not your lawyer. No Attorney-Client Relationship here.

I am not a lawyer and I am not giving legal advice.

 

I would say if it where my situation I would contact the witness advocate and then I would hire my own lawyer.

 

The first question I would ask ...is the the statutory time required for notice?

 

See if in example the required notice time is 7 days then the summons may not be legally served.

 

Third thing if first two failed, I would still contact the cruise line being prepared to fax in the court order signed by a judge and see if I could minimize my loss and get a cruise credit for a future cruise.

 

Once again these are just thoughts.

The cruiseline might soften, usually not. That's what you know what is for;)

Thanks for the help everyone. Today was the last possible day she could legally be served and they got her.

She is calling both Carnival to see if they can do anything (my PVP just said someone else can take her place for $250) and asking the court and lawyers if she can do a deposition before she leaves.

The judge is not feeling lenient towards them, as stated before someone else from her side was arrested earlier for not appearing so they are not looking good.

Thanks for the help everyone. Today was the last possible day she could legally be served and they got her.

 

She is calling both Carnival to see if they can do anything (my PVP just said someone else can take her place for $250) and asking the court and lawyers if she can do a deposition before she leaves.

 

The judge is not feeling lenient towards them, as stated before someone else from her side was arrested earlier for not appearing so they are not looking good.

Sorry to hear. Of all the times for something like this to happen! Vacation is so important to us I would be devastated and REALLY angry. So much so I would turn into a hostile witness and they prob wouldn't want me being there! Hope it gets worked out. Please keep us posted.

I would be in contempt of court for sure! I would go on that cruise and let the chips fall where they may!

This is ridiculous - what if she had heart surgery scheduled for that day? The funeral of a loved one? A $20K wedding all paid for?

They'd expect her to miss all of these events due to their inflexibility? Including a non-refundable foreign vacation that she's paid hundreds or thousands of dollars on already??

Talk about INFURIATING!!! :mad: