MARCH 3, 2025
SHANIES LAW SENIOR ASSOCIATE TRISTAN ELLIS PUBLISHED IN TEXAS LAW REVIEW
Shanies Law senior associate Tristan M. Ellis recently published a comprehensive analysis in the Texas Law Review Online: “Delivering” a Subpoena: What Constitutes “Good Service” Pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 45?, 103 Tex. L. Rev. Online 132 (2025), discussing how federal courts have interpreted the requirement in Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 45(b)(1) (“Rule 45”) that subpoenas be served by “delivering a copy to the named person.”
Mr. Ellis examines the “traditional rule” that subpoenas must be delivered by in-hand personal service, as well as the growing trend among courts to permit alternative methods of delivery that are reasonably calculated to ensure that a subpoenaed person or entity receives actual notice of a subpoena, such as certified mail. Mr. Ellis’s article highlights the ambiguity in Rule 45 that has created these diverging lines of cases and proposes a solution that would incorporate the service provisions of Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 4 and 5 into Rule 45, making clear what “delivering a copy to the name person” means in specific situations and doing away with the “traditional rule.”
The article concludes by advising attorneys to ensure that subpoenas are personally served in accordance with the “traditional rule,” or to first seek the court’s permission before resorting to a different method of delivery.
