West Virginia Code of State Rules › Agency 69 - Health And Human Resources › Title 69 - LEGISLATIVE RULE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN RESOURCES › Series 69-01 - Rules for Hearings Under the Administrative Procedures Act › Section 69-1-6 - Subpoenas

Current through Register Vol. XLI, No. 28, July 12, 2024
6.1. The secretary
				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
				secretary, but any party requesting their issuance must see that they are
				properly served. Service of subpoenas duces tecum issued at the instance of the
				secretary shall be the responsibility of the secretary. 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.
6.2. Every subpoena or subpoena duces tecum
				shall be served at least five days before the return date thereof, either by
				personal service made by any person over 18 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-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.
6.3.
				The 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 the witnesses before the circuit courts of this state.
				All such fees shall be paid by the secretary if the subpoena or subpoena duces
				tecum was issued, without the request of an interested party, at the instance
				of the secretary. All such fees related to any subpoena or subpoena duces tecum
				issued at the same instance of an interested party shall be paid by the party
				who asks that such subpoena or subpoena duces tecum be issued.
6.4. 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 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.
6.5. 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
				secretary, 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.
6.6. The issuance
				of a subpoena duces tecum will be refused only in an instance where there is
				good reason to believe that the subpoena power is being abused. Ail subpoenas
				and subpoenas duces tecum will state on their face the name of the party who
				requested it.