Title 12

SECTION 1081.208

1081.208 Subpoenas.

§ 1081.208 Subpoenas.

(a) Availability. In connection with any hearing ordered by the hearing officer, a party may request the issuance of one or more subpoenas requiring the attendance and testimony of witnesses at the designated time and place of the hearing, or the production of documentary or other tangible evidence returnable at any designated time or place.

(b) Procedure. Unless made on the record at a hearing, requests for issuance of a subpoena shall be made in writing, and filed and served on each party pursuant to subpart A of this part. The request must contain a proposed subpoena and a brief statement showing the general relevance and reasonableness of the scope of testimony or documents sought.

(c) Signing may be delegated. A hearing officer may authorize issuance of a subpoena, and may delegate the manual signing of the subpoena to any other person.

(d) Standards for issuance. The hearing officer shall promptly issue any subpoena requested pursuant to this section. However, where it appears to the hearing officer that the subpoena sought may be unreasonable, oppressive, excessive in scope, or unduly burdensome, he or she may, in his or her discretion, as a condition precedent to the issuance of the subpoena, require the person seeking the subpoena to show further the general relevance and reasonable scope of the testimony or other evidence sought. If after consideration of all the circumstances, the hearing officer determines that the subpoena or any of its terms is unreasonable, oppressive, excessive in scope, or unduly burdensome, he or she may refuse to issue the subpoena, or issue it only upon such conditions as fairness requires. In making the foregoing determination, the hearing officer may inquire of the other participants whether they will stipulate to the facts sought to be proved.

(e) Service. Upon issuance by the hearing officer, the party making the request shall serve the subpoena on the person named in the subpoena and on each party in accordance with § 1081.113(c). Subpoenas may be served in any State, territory, possession of the United States, or the District of Columbia, on any person or company doing business in any State, territory, possession of the United States, or the District of Columbia, or as otherwise permitted by law.

(f) Tender of fees required. When a subpoena compelling the attendance of a person at a hearing is issued at the request of anyone other than an officer or agency of the United States, service is valid only if the subpoena is accompanied by a tender to the subpoenaed person of the fees for one day's attendance and mileage specified by § 1081.116.

(g) Production of documentary material. Production of documentary material in response to a subpoena shall be made under a sworn certificate, in such form as the subpoena designates, by the person to whom the subpoena is directed or, if not a natural person, by any person having knowledge of the facts and circumstances relating to such production, to the effect that all of the documentary material required by the subpoena and in the possession, custody, or control of the person to whom the subpoena is directed has been produced and made available to the custodian.

(h) Motion to quash or modify - (1) Procedure. Any person to whom a subpoena is directed, or who is an owner, creator, or the subject of the documents that are to be produced pursuant to a subpoena, or any party may, prior to the time specified therein for compliance, but in no event more than ten days after the date of service of such subpoena, move that the subpoena be quashed or modified. Such motion shall be filed and served on all parties pursuant to subpart A of this part. Notwithstanding § 1081.205, the party on whose behalf the subpoena was issued or enforcement counsel may, within five days of service of the motion, file a response to the motion. Reply briefs are not permitted unless requested by the hearing officer. Filing a motion to modify a subpoena does not stay the movant's obligation to comply with those portions of the subpoena that the person has not sought to modify.

(2) Standards governing motion to quash or modify. If compliance with the subpoena would be unreasonable, oppressive, or unduly burdensome, the hearing officer shall quash or modify the subpoena, or may order return of the subpoena only upon specified conditions. These conditions may include but are not limited to a requirement that the party on whose behalf the subpoena was issued shall make reasonable compensation to the person to whom the subpoena was addressed for the cost of copying or transporting evidence to the place for return of the subpoena.

(i) Enforcing subpoenas. If a subpoenaed person fails to comply with any subpoena issued pursuant to this section or any order of the hearing officer which directs compliance with all or any portion of a subpoena, the Bureau's General Counsel may, on its own motion or at the request of the party on whose behalf the subpoena was issued, apply to an appropriate United States district court, in the name of the Bureau but on relation of such party, for an order requiring compliance with so much of the subpoena as the hearing officer has not quashed or modified, unless, in the judgment of the General Counsel, the enforcement of such subpoena would be inconsistent with law and the policies of title X of the Dodd-Frank Act. Failure to request that the Bureau's General Counsel seek enforcement of a subpoena constitutes a waiver of any claim of prejudice predicated upon the unavailability of the testimony or evidence sought.