What Is a Notice in Lieu of Subpoena in California?

A Notice in Lieu of Subpoena in California is a written notice that compels a party, a person for whose benefit the case is being prosecuted or defended, or an officer, director, or managing agent of a party to appear at trial, a hearing, or a deposition. You serve it on the opposing attorney rather than hunting down the witness for personal service, and it carries the same legal force as a subpoena.¹ Code of Civil Procedure section 1987 governs its use for trial and hearing attendance; section 2025.280 covers the parallel mechanism for depositions.

Who You Can Compel This Way

The notice reaches three categories of people:

A party to the case: any plaintiff, defendant, or cross-complainant.
A person for whose immediate benefit the action is being prosecuted or defended, even if not formally named.
An officer, director, or managing agent of a corporate or entity party.

For each, service goes to the attorney representing that party, and the attorney is responsible for producing the right person on the right date.¹

A Notice in Lieu of Subpoena does not work on non-party witnesses. A bystander, an independent expert, or a records custodian at an unrelated company has to be served with a formal subpoena delivered personally.² A notice sent to someone outside the three categories above has no legal force, and you have no remedy if that person stays home.

There is also a residency limit. A witness is not obligated to attend unless the witness is a California resident at the time of service.³

Trial or Hearing vs. Deposition

Which statute controls depends on where you need the person to appear.

Trial or Hearing Attendance

Section 1987(b) applies when you need a party or affiliated witness in court. The written notice goes to the party’s attorney and must be served at least 10 days before the appearance date. A court can order a shorter period, but 10 days is the default floor. The statute makes clear the notice has the same effect as a subpoena, including the court’s authority to impose sanctions for non-compliance.¹

Depositions

For a deposition of a party, section 2025.280 provides that a standard deposition notice is enough. No separate subpoena is required to compel a party, or any officer, director, managing agent, or employee of a party, to attend, testify, and produce documents.² The notice must be served at least 10 days before the deposition.⁴ Non-party deponents still need a deposition subpoena served directly on them.

Deadlines and Service

Every notice must state the date, time, and location of the required appearance. Beyond that, the clock you work backward from depends on what you are asking for.

A notice seeking testimony only must reach the opposing attorney at least 10 days before the appearance.¹

A notice that also demands documents, electronically stored information, or other tangible items must be served at least 20 days before the appearance. The notice has to specifically identify the materials and state that the party has them in its possession or control.¹ Catch-all phrases like “all relevant documents” invite objections.

Service goes to the attorney of record and can be made by personal delivery, mail, or electronic service if the parties have agreed to it.¹ The method changes your deadline math. Mail service within California adds five calendar days to the notice period; mail to another state within the United States adds 10 days.⁵ A testimony-only notice mailed within California therefore needs to go out at least 15 days before the appearance date. Missing the extended deadline is one of the simplest ways to have the notice attacked as defective.

Prepare a proof of service recording the date and method of delivery. It becomes evidence if you later have to file a motion to compel.

Document Requests and the Five-Day Objection Window

Once a notice requesting documents is served, the receiving party has five days to serve written objections stating specific grounds for refusing to produce some or all of the items.¹ If objections come in, the requesting party has to file a motion, show good cause, and demonstrate the materials are relevant. The court then decides whether to order production.

Miss the five-day deadline and you lose the ability to object. The clock runs from service on counsel, not from the day the client sees the notice.

Compelling an Entity’s Most Qualified Person

When the opposing party is a corporation, LLC, or other entity, naming the entity by itself does not produce a useful witness. If you want the person best able to answer questions on specific subjects, your deposition notice must describe those subjects with reasonable particularity.⁶

When the subjects are properly described, the entity must designate and produce the officer, director, managing agent, or employee most qualified to testify on each one. That person must testify to the extent of any information known or reasonably available to the organization, even if the designee has to go gather the answers.⁶ Skip the topic descriptions and the entity has no duty to send its most qualified person.

Witness Fees

Section 1987(b) entitles the witness to be paid witness fees and mileage, upon demand, before being required to testify.¹ The statutory rate is $35 per day of actual attendance plus $0.20 per mile traveled in both directions.⁷ Be ready to tender the fees if a demand is made; non-payment on demand can give the witness grounds to refuse to testify.

If the Witness Doesn’t Appear

Because the notice carries the same force as a subpoena, ignoring it exposes the non-appearing party to the full range of discovery sanctions. The requesting party can file a motion to compel and ask for monetary sanctions covering reasonable expenses, including attorney’s fees for the motion.⁸ Courts are required to impose monetary sanctions unless the non-appearing party shows substantial justification or that sanctions would be unjust. Sanctions can be awarded even if no opposition is filed.⁹

For willful or repeated non-compliance, the Discovery Act authorizes stronger sanctions:⁸

Issue sanctions, which take designated facts as established against the disobedient party or bar that party from supporting or opposing specific claims.
Evidence sanctions, which prohibit the disobedient party from introducing designated evidence at trial.
Terminating sanctions, which strike pleadings, dismiss the action, or enter default judgment.
Contempt sanctions.

If You Receive a Notice in Lieu of Subpoena

Your obligation is to make sure the right person appears at the stated date, time, and location. Ignoring the notice has the same consequences as ignoring a subpoena.

If the notice includes a document request, read it the day it arrives. You have five days to serve written objections, and each objection must state specific grounds.¹ If the appearance date is genuinely impossible, contact opposing counsel to work out a new date, and if that fails, seek a protective order. Simply not showing up and explaining later is not an option courts tend to accept.

1
California Legislative Information. California Code CCP Part 4 Title 3 Chapter 2 – Section 1987
2
California Legislative Information. California Code CCP Part 4 Title 4 Chapter 9 Article 2 – Section 2025.280
3
California Legislative Information. California Code CCP Part 4 Title 3 Chapter 2 – Section 1989
4
California Legislative Information. California Code CCP Part 4 Title 4 Chapter 9 Article 2 – Section 2025.270
5
California Legislative Information. California Code of Civil Procedure CCP 1013
6
California Legislative Information. California Code CCP Part 4 Title 4 Chapter 9 Article 2 – Section 2025.230
7
California Legislative Information. California Government Code Title 8 Chapter 1 – Section 68093
8
California Legislative Information. California Code CCP Part 4 Title 4 Chapter 7 – Section 2023.030
9
Judicial Branch of California. California Rules of Court Rule 3.1348 – Sanctions for Failure to Provide Discovery