West Virginia Code of State Rules › Agency 85 - Workers' Compensation › Title 85 - PROCEDURAL RULE WORKERS' COMPENSATION RULES OF THE WEST VIRGINIA INSURANCE COMMISSIONER › Series 85-07 - Rules For Selected Hearings › Section 85-7-7 - Subpoenas

Current through Register Vol. XLI, No. 28, July 12, 2024
7.1. The hearing
				officer may issue subpoenas and compel the attendance of witnesses and the
				production of pertinent books, accounts, papers, records, documents, and
				testimony. All subpoenas and subpoenas duces tecum shall be issued in the name
				of the hearing officer or other authorized official, but any party requesting
				their issuance must see that they are properly served. All requests by
				interested parties for subpoenas and subpoenas duces tecum shall be in writing
				and shall contain a statement acknowledging that the requesting party agrees to
				pay service fees and fees for the attendance and travel of witnesses.
7.2. Every subpoena or subpoena duces tecum
				shall be served at least five (5) days before the return date thereof, either
				by personal service made by any person over eighteen years of age or by
				registered or certified mail. But a return acknowledgment signed by the person
				to whom the subpoena or subpoena duces tecum is directed shall be required to
				prove service by registered or certified mail. If service is by mail, then the
				five (5) day notice period shall not begin to run until the date the subpoena
				or subpoena duces tecum is received by the person or entity subject thereto as
				shown by the date on the return receipt.
7.3. Any person who serves any such subpoena
				or subpoena duces tecum shall be entitled to the same fee as sheriffs who serve
				witness subpoenas for the circuit courts of this state. Fees for the attendance
				and travel of witnesses shall be the same as for witnesses before the circuit
				courts of this state. All such fees related to any subpoena or subpoena duces
				tecum issued at the instance of an interested party shall be paid by the party
				who asks that such subpoena or subpoena duces tecum be issued.
7.4. Upon motion made promptly and in any
				event before the time specified in a subpoena duces tecum for compliance
				therewith, the circuit court of the county in which the hearing is to be held,
				or the circuit court in which the subpoena duces tecum was served, or the judge
				of either such court in vacation, may grant any relief with respect to such
				subpoena duces tecum which either such court, under the West Virginia Rules of
				Civil Procedure for Trial Courts of Record, could grant, and for any of the
				same reasons, with respect to a subpoena duces tecum issued from either such
				court.
7.5. In case of disobedience
				or neglect of any subpoena or subpoena duces tecum served on any person, or the
				refusal of any witness to testify to any matter regarding which he or she may
				be lawfully interrogated, the circuit court of the county in which the hearing
				is being held, or the judge thereof in vacation, upon application by the
				commissioner, or any commission employee designated by the commissioner, or
				hearing officer appointed by the commission, shall compel obedience by
				attachment proceedings for contempt of a subpoena or subpoena duces tecum
				issued from such circuit court or a refusal to testify therein.
7.6. The issuance of a subpoena duces tecum
				will be refused only in an instance when there is good reason to believe that
				the subpoena power is being abused. All subpoenas and subpoenas duces tecum
				will state on their face the name of the party who requested it.