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Rule 45.04 – Subpoena for Taking Depositions – Place of Deposition

May 14, 2021 | Civil Procedure, Tennessee

(1) A subpoena for taking depositions may be issued by the clerk of the court in which the action is pending. If the subpoena commands the person to whom it is directed to produce designated books, papers, documents, electronically stored information, or tangible things which constitute or contain evidence relating to any of the matters within the scope of the examination permitted by Rule 26.02, the subpoena will be subject to the provisions of Rules 30.02, 37.02, 45.02, and 45.07. A deposition subpoena for testimony or subpoena for production of documentary evidence also must state in prominently displayed, bold-faced text: “The failure to serve an objection to this subpoena within twenty-one days after the day of service of the subpoena waives all objections to the subpoena, except the right to seek the reasonable cost for producing books, papers, documents, electronically stored information, or tangible things.”
(2) A resident of the state may be required to give a deposition only in the county where the person resides or is employed or transacts his or her business in person, or at such other convenient place as is fixed by an order of the court.

Tenn. R. Civ. P. 45.04

As amended by order entered January 26, 1999, effective July 1, 1999.

Advisory Commission Comments [2009].

The amendment to Rule 45.04(1) restates settled law. A deposition subpoena, like a trial subpoena, may be served anywhere in Tennessee.

Advisory Commission Comments [2012].

Tennessee has adopted the Uniform Interstate Depositions and Discovery Act, Tenn. Code Ann. ยงยง 24-9-201, et seq. The Act aids only the lawyer who wants to take a deposition or obtain discovery in Tennessee for use elsewhere. Tennessee lawyers seeking to take a deposition or obtain discovery in a foreign jurisdiction must look to that jurisdiction’s law for similar assistance.

Advisory Commission Comments [2013].

The amendment requires a notice to be placed on a deposition subpoena issued to a non-party witness with the information that the witness has until twenty-one days after service of the subpoena to serve an objection to the subpoena on the issuing attorney. This change is consistent with the removal of the requirement to file a motion to quash within the earlier of the date of compliance or 14 days from the date of service, as set out in former Rule 45.01.