Opinion
Civil Action No. 11-cv-00422-WJM-KMT
04-11-2012
EDWARD LEE HICKS, Plaintiff, v. MR. ANDERSON, Individual and Official Capacity, Acting Sgt, JOHN DOE, Individual and Official Capacity, Acting Booking Deputy, MR. KEMP, Individual and Official Capacity, Acting Deputy, COUNSEL TAWNIE, Last Name Unknown, Individual and Official Capacity, Acting Counselor, SUSAN KELLER, Individual and Official Capacity, Acting Comm. Corr. Parole Officer, CATHY HOLST, Individual and Official Capacity, Acting AIC/ADA Legal Assistant, JULIE RUSSELL, Individual and Official Capacity, Aciting AIC/ADA Legal Assistant, S. STEINBECK, Individual and Official Capacity, Acting AVCF-ADA Coordinator, and MS. NELSON, Individual and Official Capacity, Acting HSA for AVCF, Defendants.
Magistrate Judge Kathleen M. Tafoya
ORDER
This matter is before the court on Plaintiff's "Motion Requesting this Honorable Court to Serve Subpoena of Records on a Third Party - Intervention Community Corrections Services (ICCS) - Service under IFP." (Doc. No. 90, filed May 10, 2012.)
On March 14, 2012, the court granted Plaintiff's "Motion Requesting the Subpoena of Records from a Third Party - Intervention Community Corrections Services (ICCS)" (Doc. No. 80, filed Mar. 13, 2012) by directing the Clerk of Court to send Plaintiff a signed subpoena, featuring the caption of this case, directed to Intervention Community Corrections Facility (ICCS). (See Doc. No. 84, filed Mar. 14, 2012.) On April 2, 2012, Plaintiff filed his original "Motion Requesting the Court to Serve the Subpoena of Records Upon Third Party -Intervention Community Corrections Services - Requesting for Service Under I.F.P." (Doc. No. 86.) After acknowledging that 28 U.S.C. § 1915(d) authorized the court to direct the United States Marshal to serve Plaintiff's subpoena, the court denied Plaintiff's original motion because Plaintiff failed to outline in his subpoena what specific documents he sought from Intervention Community Corrections Services (ICCS). (See Order, Doc. No. 89, filed Apr. 3, 2012.) Plaintiff's present Motion seeks to remedy the deficiencies noted by the court with respect to his original motion by specifically outlining the documents that he seeks from ICCS. (See Mot.)
An indigent litigant is entitled to have subpoenas served by "officers of the court," which in nearly all circumstances means the United States Marshal. 28 U.S.C. § 1915(d). The preferred method for accomplishing this task is for the plaintiff to file a motion with the court, attaching the subpoena to be served-requesting an order that the Marshal serve the attached subpoena. This method is preferred because the court has the opportunity to review the subpoena and deny service if the subpoena is overbroad or otherwise unduly burdensome in violation of Fed.R.Civ.P. 45(c). Andrade v. Oba, 07-cv-00872-WYD-KMT, at *1 (D. Colo. Mar. 11, 2009).
The court finds that Plaintiff has now sufficiently described the documents he seeks from ICCS such that his subpoena is no longer facially overbroad or unduly burdensome. Plaintiff's Motion outlines the specific categories of documents to be requested from ICCS. (Mot. at 2-4.) As such, the court finds that ICCS is now capable of either responding to Plaintiff's subpoena and producing the requested documents, or objecting to their production pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 45(c) and/or Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(c). Accordingly, the court will order the United States Marshal to serve Plaintiff's subpoena, accompanied by copies of Plaintiff's Motion and this Order, on ICCS.
Therefore, for the foregoing reasons, it is
ORDERED that Plaintiff's "Motion Requesting this Honorable Court to Serve Subpoena of Records on a Third Party - Intervention Community Corrections Services (ICCS) - Service under IFP" (Doc. No. 90) is GRANTED. Pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1915(d), the United States Marshal Service is directed to serve Plaintiff's subpoena (Doc. No. 86 at 3-4), together with copies of Plaintiff's Motion (Doc. No. 90) and this Order, on Intervention Community Corrections Services.
BY THE COURT:
______________________
Kathleen M. Tafoya
United States Magistrate Judge