Author: Report of the International Commercial Disputes Committee and the Arbitration Committee of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York
Published: October 2015
Description:
INTRODUCTION
This annotated model federal arbitration witness summons (so titled because the Federal Arbitration Act (“FAA”) uses the term “summon” rather than “subpoena” in Section 7) brings together in one resource guidance on law and practice in regard to the issuance by arbitrators of compulsory process for evidence to be obtained from non-party witnesses.1 A major impetus for this project was the amendment of Rule 45 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure in December 2013, which in relevant part provided for nationwide service of a federal judicial subpoena. By implication, a federal arbitral witness summons, which per FAA Section 7 is to be served in the same manner as a federal judicial subpoena, now may be served nationwide. The consequences are likely to be (i) more extensive proposed and actual use of arbitral subpoenas than was the case when an arbitrator could compel attendance only of a witness found within 100 miles of the place of arbitration, and (ii) a greater frequency of litigation concerning the witness’s duty of compliance.
The structure of this document, as the Table of Contents indicates, is to provide a Model Summons and a series of annotations that discuss applicable law and/or issues of practice and policy. The annotations are keyed to aspects of the Model Summons by footnotes (or hyperlinks) in the Model Summons, so the reader can readily refer to the analysis that underlies the various components of the Model Summons.