California Surveyors Forums

Hello all.

Have any of you PLS folks been subpoened before in a case as a "lay witness"?

I'm suppose to appear in a depo. as a lay witness. I conducted boundary survey work
involved in this case and all my records have been subpoened.

This is a new one to me. I've appeared as an expert before but not as a lay person.

Does anyone have any experience with this sort of thing?

Thanks.

A lay witness would be a percipient one. That is, able to testify only as to what he or she heard and saw - no opinions, and no recompense.
An expert witness, of course, is qualified to opine within his or her field of expertise, and a negotiated payment.

Thanks Warren.

That's helpful.

To add to what Warren described, they basically do not want to pay you as an expert. In my past in private practice, when I was notified of this, I did not share anything more that exactly what Warren stated - what I heard or saw. Nothing more. If they want your land surveying expertise and opinion on the situation, they should pay you for it.

Thanks Ric. How then can they subpoena all your records including everything I used to prepare a corner record without considering you as an expert witness?

See Govt Code 68092.5 that is relevant to Land Surveyors.

Whenever I have been deposed as percipient witness, I have turned it over to my client's attorney and they made certain that I was paid as an expert. If you no longer have a client involved, I would hire my own lawyer. Ric is correct, they usually want to extract your opinion without paying you.

Research contempt of court and bench warrants before you decide not to comply.

DWoolley

Gov. Code 68092.5(a)(3):

"an architect, professional engineer, or licensed land surveyor who was involved with the original project design or survey for which he or she is asked to express an opinion within his or her expertise and relevant to the action or proceeding, shall pay the reasonable and customary hourly or daily fee for the actual time consumed in the examination of that witness by any party attending the action or proceeding. The hourly or daily fee shall not exceed the fee charged the party who retained the expert except where the expert donated his or her services to a charitable or other nonprofit organization. A daily fee shall only be charged for a full day of attendance at a deposition or where the expert was required by the deposing party to be available for a full day and the expert necessarily had to forego all business he or she would have otherwise conducted that day but for the request that he or she be available all day for the scheduled deposition."

Building Officials and Public Works Directors, for example, get called to testify all the time about technical aspects, but are not called as expert witnesses.

Your prior work is probably not in question, but rather something happened near, on, or over the line you surveyed.