Tennessee Subpoena

Introduction

Key Things to Know

1. 1

   A Tennessee subpoena is a command issued by the clerk, stating the name of the court and the title of the action, requiring a person to attend and give testimony at the time and place and for the party specified, and it may instead or also command production of documentary evidence (Rule 45.01).

2. 2

   The Tennessee witness fee in a court of record is thirty dollars ($30.00) per day in a civil matter, payable upon request to the clerk (Tenn. Code Ann. Section 24-4-101(b)).

3. 3

   Tennessee mileage has an entry threshold: reimbursement is owed only where the witness resides more than ten miles from the court, and then at the rate allowable under the state comprehensive travel regulations in effect at the time, measured going to and returning from court, again upon request to the clerk.

4. 4

   Every Tennessee subpoena is issued by the clerk, who hands the requesting party a copy signed but otherwise in blank to fill in before service. No Tennessee rule lets an attorney of record issue one (Rule 45.01).

5. 5

   A non-party witness must get at least twenty-one days after service to respond, absent agreement or a court order, and written objection is due within twenty-one days (Rule 45.07(1) and (2)). Missing that window waives all objections except the right to seek the reasonable cost of producing the materials.

6. 6

   A deposition subpoena or a subpoena for production must state the twenty-one-day waiver warning in prominently displayed, bold-faced text (Rule 45.04(1)), and copies of a production subpoena go to all parties under Rule 5 (Rule 45.02).

7. 7

   Where a Tennessee records subpoena does not require the person to appear, it must also require that person to swear or affirm the items are authentic to the best of their knowledge, information and belief, and to state whether everything responsive was produced (Rule 45.02).

Tennessee Requirements for Subpoena

• Witness Fee of $30.00 a Day, From the Clerk

  Witnesses in courts of record attending under subpoena in a civil matter shall receive upon request to the clerk thirty dollars ($30.00) per day for such attendance (Tenn. Code Ann. Section 24-4-101(b)). The request to the clerk is the mechanism, so a witness who never asks may never be paid.

• Mileage Only Beyond Ten Miles

  Where the witness resides at a distance of greater than ten miles from the court, the witness shall, upon request to the clerk, also receive reimbursement for travel expenses for each mile traveled going to and returning from the court, at the rate allowable under the state comprehensive travel regulations in effect at that time (Section 24-4-101(b)). Inside ten miles there is no mileage, and the statute prints no cents figure.

• Only the Clerk May Issue It

  Every subpoena shall be issued by the clerk, who issues one, or one for production of documentary evidence, signed but otherwise in blank, to the party requesting it, who fills it in before service (Rule 45.01). Tennessee has no provision for an attorney of record to sign and issue a subpoena.

• Paper or Electronic, With a 10-Day Payment Clock

  The clerk may issue any Rule 45 subpoena in paper or electronic form, and an electronically affixed signature is treated as an original. Payment for an electronic subpoena must reach the trial court clerk no later than 10 calendar days after issuance, paid by the requesting party, unless taxed as a court cost on a pauper oath (Rule 45.09).

• Bold Twenty-One-Day Waiver Notice

  Tennessee prescribes no numbered statewide form, but a deposition subpoena or subpoena for production of documentary evidence must state in prominently displayed, bold-faced text that failure to serve an objection within twenty-one days after the day of service waives all objections except the right to seek the reasonable cost of producing the materials (Rule 45.04(1)).

• Twenty-One Days for a Non-Party to Respond

  The party or attorney issuing and serving a subpoena must take reasonable steps to avoid undue burden or expense on a non-party witness and shall provide that witness at least twenty-one days after service to respond, absent agreement of the witness or a court order, with written objection due in the same twenty-one days (Rule 45.07(1) and (2)).

• Custodian Must Swear the Records Are Authentic

  Where appearance is not required, the subpoena shall also require the recipient to swear or affirm that the items are authentic to the best of that person knowledge, information and belief, and to state whether all responsive items have been produced. Copies go to all parties under Rule 5 and all material produced must be available to all parties (Rule 45.02).

• Statewide Service, Contempt, and Compelled Attendance

  A trial or hearing subpoena may be served at any place within Tennessee, while a resident may be deposed only in the county of residence, employment or in-person business (Rules 45.05(1), 45.04(2)). Disobedience or refusal to be sworn or to answer may be punished as contempt of the court where the action is pending (Rule 45.06), and on affidavit that oral testimony is necessary the court may order personal attendance even of an otherwise exempt witness (Rule 45.05(2)).