I had 3 messages from a sheriff's deputy over the last 2 weeks (I was on vacation) who has been trying to serve me with a subpoena. When I spoke to him he stated that an ex-client of mine (developer) was being sued by a condo owner. We were the architects on the project, a conversion of an old factory to loft style condos. I am not being sued, just asked for information apparently, but as these things go that could change at any time.
My question: What is my obligation to facilitate a meeting so that I can receive these papers? I haven't started purposely avoiding him yet but I am considering it. I don't think we did anything wrong, but in my limited experience with the legal system everyone looses in a lawsuit. Will he eventually just nail the papers to my door and consider the job done? Would I gain anything by stretching the process out as long as possible?
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You could ignore it, and wait to see if they file a motion to compel. You could also state your hourly fee is $3500/hr, and you need payment in advance.
What does your client contract say about litigation and legal fees?
If there's an indemnity then I'd go ahead and schedule a deposition and/or provide documents as requested, and bill the research and travel costs back to your client.
If not, well, now you have something to add to your standard agreement.
oopsz said:What does your client contract say about litigation and legal fees?
If there's an indemnity then I'd go ahead and schedule a deposition and/or provide documents as requested, and bill the research and travel costs back to your client.
If not, well, now you have something to add to your standard agreement.
Our proposal at the time of this project (August 2003) was very likely lacking in that type of language. We've gotten better since then.
PolarDude said:You could ignore it, and wait to see if they file a motion to compel. You could also state your hourly fee is $3500/hr, and you need payment in advance.
You can't really ask the plantiff to pay for your time when you're served a subpoena, can you?
YoungElvis said:PolarDude said:You could ignore it, and wait to see if they file a motion to compel. You could also state your hourly fee is $3500/hr, and you need payment in advance.
You can't really ask the plantiff to pay for your time when you're served a subpoena, can you?
Sure you CAN. But you may get laughed at. Or you may get rich! PROFIT!
kwest said:YoungElvis said:PolarDude said:You could ignore it, and wait to see if they file a motion to compel. You could also state your hourly fee is $3500/hr, and you need payment in advance.
You can't really ask the plantiff to pay for your time when you're served a subpoena, can you?
Sure you CAN. But you may get laughed at. Or you may get rich! PROFIT!
I would assume you did your work through your own LLC or Corporation. And, that the "client" contracted with your company and not with you. Hence, the subpoena should be going to your company and not to you! The distinction is important in that you want your company to be sued and not you individually. One of the purposes of forming a corporation is to shield yourself from personal liability.
Who is your agent of service for your corporation? It looks like you may have made yourself the agent which is something which you should never do and you should immediately get fixed.
I would also assume you have a multi-million dollar "errors and omissions" policy to cover any possible lawsuit. You might want to inform your insurance company of the subpoena. (so that their lawyers could get involved.)
Hence, I would assume you personally have nothing to worry about.
Liability insurance, yes. Maybe not 'multi million dollar' but hopefully high enough to cover. I will absolutely notify the folks in the pre-claim department when I get the subpoena in hand.
The company was incorporated, although it's hard to say if it happened before or after this project. I'll have to check the records...
BradMajors said:I would assume you did your work through your own LLC or Corporation. And, that the "client" contracted with your company and not with you. Hence, the subpoena should be going to your company and not to you! The distinction is important in that you want your company to be sued and not you individually. One of the purposes of forming a corporation is to shield yourself from personal liability.He's not being sued. He's a witness. The fact that he may not be personally liable for something doesn't mean he doesn't have relevant information to testify about.
Anyway, if he is ever sued for some type of malpractice, he likely would be personally liable for his own acts.
Read it. If you don't want to answer it, file a motion to quash.
I don't think we did anything wrong, but in my limited experience with the legal system everyone looses in a lawsuit You need to do some more reading. I've felt quite successful in my legal experiences.
Would I gain anything by stretching the process out as long as possible? Time to read over the suit, ascertain what they are asking and what you may have to provide, besides, you can't serve what you can't find. Again you can set some time up in the future to receive these papers, but you don't have to do it today.
Having worked in site development, when crap hits the fan everyone gets subpoenaed. Even if it was a wall that fell down and all you did was design the sidewalk on the other side of the project, your company will get served papers. You are a business. It doesn't make any sense to keep trying to dodge this. You will want to make sure it gets taken care of professionally so it won't affect the image of your company.
Once you receive the subpoena you can figure out what went wrong, gather and review your records to determine if the problem was at all on your end. You will need the documentation to deflect the issue to whichever company is at fault anyways especially if you were the prime on the project.
As far as how to proceed from there, you should contact your liability insurance company. They should provide legal council since if you are found at fault they will be paying. They will want to provide you with the best advice (and often representation) possible.
LH2004 said:BradMajors said:I would assume you did your work through your own LLC or Corporation. And, that the "client" contracted with your company and not with you. Hence, the subpoena should be going to your company and not to you! The distinction is important in that you want your company to be sued and not you individually. One of the purposes of forming a corporation is to shield yourself from personal liability. Anyway, if he is ever sued for some type of malpractice, he likely would be personally liable for his own acts. The contract is with his Corporation and not with him, no one can sue him. OP can not know why he is being subpoenaed until he reads the subpoena. A process server would say anything in order to get him to accept the papers.
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