Opinion
CV-19-00209-TUC-RM
07-23-2021
William Richard Patton, Plaintiff, v. Ann Ash, et al., Defendants.
ORDER
Honorable Rosemary Marquez United States District Judge
Pending before the Court is Plaintiff's Subpoena Request Pursuant to Rule 45. (Doc. 77.) Plaintiff requests permission pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 45 to issue a subpoena to Tucson Medical Center to obtain documents and photographs pertaining to podiatry treatment he received. (Id.) Defendants have not responded to the Request and the time for doing so has expired. LRCiv 7.2(c).
The Certificate of Service for the Subpoena Request indicates that Plaintiff submitted it to institutional authorities for filing with the Court on June 22, 2021. (See Doc. 77 at 2.) Thus, although the request was not filed until July 6, 2021, after the expiration of the discovery deadline (see Doc. 76), the Subpoena Request is timely pursuant to the prison mailbox rule. See Bosley v. Valasco, No. 1:14-cv-00049-MJS(PC), 2016 WL 1704159, at *4 (E.D. Cal. Apr. 28, 2016), modified, 2016 WL 2756590 (E.D. Cal. May 12, 2016) (prisoner's subpoena request deemed timely when he placed it in the institutional mail before the close of discovery) (citing Houston v. Lack, 487 U.S. 266 (1988); Campbell v. Henry, 614 F.3d 1056, 1059 (9th Cir. 2010)).
General Order 18-19 sets forth the procedural requirements for pro se litigants who wish to serve subpoenas. Pro se litigants must (1) file a motion “in writing, (2) attach a copy of the proposed subpoena, (3) set forth the name and address of the witness to be subpoenaed and the custodian and general nature of any documents requested, and (4) state with particularity the reasons for seeking the testimony and documents.” Gen. Ord. 18-19. Requests for subpoenas that do not comply with these requirements will be denied. See Withers v. Beecken Petty O'Keefe & Co., No. CV-17-03391-PHX-DWL(JZB), 2019 WL 1153440, at *2 (D. Ariz. Mar. 13, 2019).
Plaintiffs Request complies with these requirements. He has attached a copy of the proposed subpoena and has set forth the nature of the documents he requests as well as his reasons for seeking them. (Doc. 77-1.)
Accordingly, IT IS ORDERED that the Subpoena Request Pursuant to Rule 45 (Doc. 77) is granted.
IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that the Clerk of Court shall forward the subpoena submitted by Plaintiff (Doc. 77-1) to the United States Marshal, and the United States Marshal shall serve the subpoena.