Xnarg said:Plead the Fifth.

.... nor shall [the person] be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself

Pun said:I agree with crazytree.
As a plaintiff of a similar situation. We subpoenaed an architect for his advice and as a witness expert (most likely the plaintiff wants to prove that the developer followed your architectural plan). You can make some $$$ doing so after negotiating with the plaintiff's lawyer. But just a document and original plan would suffice.this could actually be a pretty good money-making situation if you play your cards right. and no I won't tell you how to hardball the party whose position your records support.

If he was involved in designing the building he should be compelled to do so because that is the burden he accepts when he designs buildings.

If it were someone else's building I would agree he should be paid for as an expert. Not when it was his own building.

I have to say this thread is full of some dumb advice and just general laziness.

A few things. First, I would be much less likely to spend time avoiding a sheriff serving me than just a run-of-the-mill process server. Secondly, it is clear you have no idea what this is about. I think it probably does make sense to contact a lawyer. That is probably the only sensible advice in this whole thread. He could make inquiries to determine exactly what they are wanting from you and then he could direct you in a manner that keeps your exposure limited.

If you don't feel like potentially having to spend time in a courtroom if a lawsuit comes up for something you worked on, I suggest a new line of work. It is a risk you take on in your profession. As a lot of people do in various businesses and professions. Just ignoring it when you don't even know what you want is not sound or logical advice.

If you are really worried about getting dragged into it, then the only proper thing to do is to suck it up and pay an attorney some money to find out and provide you counsel. Tell him up front you would rather not be involved at all if at all possible. It may be possible to make it clear that you have nothing to offer and they will stop pursuing it. Again though you are not going to know any of this or make any of this happen until you do something besides hiding out.

Don't get me wrong. I don't advocate people run to accept service. In fact I would never advise that. However most of the time people know why they are trying to be served. You really don't know. So you need to find out.

n/m

Well, for anyone still watching this old thread, I have an update. Turns out I didn't have an option to avoid the service, they never called again but showed up this morning and served me at work. I'm not named in the lawsuit, the subpoena is for records only and it is made out to the incorporated business, not me personally. Also, there was $8 in cash in the envelope! Sweet!

Our insurance company's 'loss prevention' department has been notified and has a copy on the way. I will await their advice before acting on the order...

Craytree: You are correct, this was a 'subpoena duces tecum', however there was no mention of a copy service. They want me to do that myself...

Bighitter: Thanks for the advice on the Pacer account, I had no idea that existed. Now that I have the civil action number, I'll get the court documents.

Some states, such as California, requires that the served party demand payment for copy expenses before it is paid. In other words, if the party doesn't demand it, then the serving party does not have to automatically include the charges.