Opinion
5937N Index 400242/11
03-08-2018
John WHITFIELD, Plaintiff–Appellant, v. Q–BORO BOOKS, et al., Defendants. Paul A. Chin, Esq. Nonparty Respondent.
John Whitfield, appellant pro se. Paul A. Chin, New York, respondent pro se.
John Whitfield, appellant pro se.
Paul A. Chin, New York, respondent pro se.
Renwick, J.P., Richter, Andrias, Kapnick, Kahn, JJ.
Order, Supreme Court, New York County (Richard F. Braun, J.), entered July 10, 2017, which denied plaintiff's motion to hold nonparty witness Paul A. Chin in civil contempt of court for disobeying a trial subpoena, unanimously affirmed, without costs.
CPLR 2303(a) provides, in relevant part, that "a subpoena requiring attendance or a subpoena duces tecum shall be served in the same manner as a summons." Here, plaintiff admitted that he did not properly serve Chin with the trial subpoena. Because service was improper, there was no lawful judicial order in effect for Chin to disobey (see El–Dehdan v. El–Dehdan, 26 N.Y.3d 19, 29, 19 N.Y.S.3d 475, 41 N.E.3d 340 [2015] ).