No judgment, no subpoena

For better or worse, handling appeals sometimes leads to handling enforcement issues.  In a recent appeal, we won a favorable modification of an order under which a judgment had been entered against the defendant, our client.  Thereupon, the plaintiff issued subpoenas for disclosure of information for enforcement purposes, but he took no steps to have the old judgment reduced in accordance with the appellate court decision.  Rather, he filed a motion to modify the judgment in his client’s favor on other grounds. But that motion had not been decided.



New York practice allows for the issuance of subpoenas for disclosure of information to enforce a judgment. But the subpoena must specify the date of the judgment, the court in which it was entered, its amount and the amount then due.  The plaintiff withdrew the subpoenas after we filed a motion arguing that the the plaintiff had cited no currently effective judgment that could be enforced and could not have done so because the existing judgment had been effectively obviated by the appellate court’s decision.

By rosenhouselaw | Published March 23, 2021 | Posted in Litigation | Comments Off on No judgment, no subpoena