CIVIL SUBPOENAS ISSUED BY ARBITRATOR AGAINST OUT-OF-STATE NONPARTIES HELD UNENFORCEABLE
The Colorado Supreme Court vacated a district court’s order enforcing subpoenas issued by an arbitrator against out-of-state nonparties. The court held that a district court has the same authority to enforce subpoenas in civil actions regardless of whether arbitration is involved or not, and that Colorado courts have no authority to enforce civil subpoenas against out-of-state nonparties. The court rejected the argument that Colorado’s long-arm statute gives a Colorado court the authority to enforce such subpoenas. It further stated that, under the Uniform Interstate Depositions and Discovery Act (“UIDDA”), which Colorado and other states had recently adopted, a subpoena issued for discovery in the “trial state” must be submitted to the clerk of court in the “discovery state” at which time the clerk in the discovery state re-issues the subpoena. Colorado Mills, LLC v. SunOpta Grains & Foods, Inc., No. 11SA82 (Colo. Feb. 6, 2012).
This post written by Ben Seessel.
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