Witness Interrogatories & Production

[mudbunnies]

Hallo Hallo

State; Florida

Have several pending motions regarding Contempt / Sanctions / Motion to Prohibit Contact, etc...

Each motion deals with BM and her family members.. before spending hundreds of $ and tons of time on depositions I was wondering the following;


1.  Can I send Witness Interrogatories to each person I plan to have testify, even if they are hostile witnesses?

2.  Can I send some form of Witness Request to Produce to those people as well?  ( I need some of their credit card statements to substantiate a claim of removing child from the state by the grandparents)

3.  If no to 2 what is the best method to go about getting the evidence that I know the hostile witness has in his control prior to a depo?

Thanks.

[socrateaser]

>1.  Can I send Witness Interrogatories to each person I plan
>to have testify, even if they are hostile witnesses?

You may only use written interrogatories with a PARTY to the case (i.e., persons or entities named in the suit, not with third-party witnesses.

>2.  Can I send some form of Witness Request to Produce to
>those people as well?  ( I need some of their credit card
>statements to substantiate a claim of removing child from the
>state by the grandparents)

Again, you can use a Request for Production of Documents and Other Things with a PARTY, but not with a third-party witness.

>
>3.  If no to 2 what is the best method to go about getting the
>evidence that I know the hostile witness has in his control
>prior to a depo?

Under general rules of civil procedure, with which I'm pretty sure FL law comports, a subpoena duces tecum is the means by which one would obtain documents from a third-party witness. The facts state that you wish to obtain credit card statements from the child's grandparents.

You could send a subpoena to the grandparents, informing them of a time and place for a deposition, and the documents that they are to bring with them, and then you can state that in lieu of their appearance at the deposition, they may send you copies of the documents that you require. You can also state that if the choose to appear, that they are to send you copies of the documents prior to their appearance, i.e., you want them to appear for depo on a date 60 days from now, and they need to give you the documents within 30 days.

This is NOT something that you will find in the civil code -- you are merely offering them the opportunity to avoid appearing via a negotiated settlement that just happens to appear in the form of a subpoena.

They may call your bluff and choose to appear, and further call your bluff and refuse to produce the documents in advance, depending upon their sophistication, or whether they obtain a lawyer to help them with the subpoena.

Large companies, like insurers are used to this sort of subpoena, and frequently they will comply because it's far cheaper than sending a records custodian and a witness with knowledge of the particulars of the doucments to a deposition.

Naturally, you must comply with the FL Civil Code when issuing the subpoena, or the witness can merely drop the document into the circular file.