Years ago, I was walking down the street when I heard a loud bang on the street.  Turned out that two cars had collided and, as it turned out, one of the drivers was a person I knew.  Standing looking at the accident, Person saw me and asked if I had seen what had happened.  No, I hadn’t, and said so.  Weeks went by and while lounging at home a I heard a knock on the door and was greeted by my friendly neighborhood process server who served me a subpoena to appear in court.

Seems Person either didn’t believe me or was just desperate to have someone in court that they recognized.  Since the subpoena said that if I didn’t appear at court on the date stated, that I would be tossed in the pokey – so off to court I went – and sat in the courtroom for better part of the day only to be informed that the case had been settled (5 hours earlier).  REALLY would have been nice had someone told me earlier. Amazing what the fear of incarceration will do to/for some people.

The point to all this is that subpoenas are really powerful discovery tools that can put the fear of law into most anyone.  Maybe you need to bone up on discovery tools (or even learn what “discovery” is or what tools are available)?  If so, might I suggest you take a look at:

• California Civil Discovery Practice (CEB)
• California Practice Guide: Civil Procedure Before Trial (TR)
• California Deposition and Discovery Practice (Lexis)
• California Subpoena Handbook (TR)

So, when next you need to litigate (and put the fear of incarceration into someone), why not head on over to your local county law library and get your legal research groove on?!