Opinion ID: 2555287
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: castro's motion for a subpoena

Text: Castro contends that the ALJ erred by denying Castro's request for a subpoena to Charles Arnewt. I agree with the court that reversal is not warranted on that ground. In my view, however, the issue warrants further discussion, for the ALJ's somewhat mechanical construction of the applicable regulation, if followed, might well preclude claimants for unemployment compensation, most of whom appear pro se and lack legal sophistication, from introducing probative evidence supporting their claims. Castro, who was representing himself at the time, [8] filed the motion for a subpoena for Arnewt pro se. Apparently attempting to comply with the Scheduling Order, which is not in the record but which required a party requesting a subpoena to explain the relevance of the proposed witness' testimony, [9] Castro wrote that Arnewt's testimony would be relevant because I replace[d] him for 2 weeks because he was on leave of [absence] for [a] family situation and when he [got] back to work, I had no site work to go, being placed on call by the manager, Mr. Nathan Rudolph. (Emphasis in original). The ALJ, however, was not persuaded: Claimant's subpoena request fails to comply with the Scheduling Order and OAH Rule 2822.2, in that the request does not explain why the testimony of the proposed witness is relevant. Claimant states that Mr. Arnewt will testify that Claimant substituted for him for two weeks and when Mr. Arnewt returned to work, Claimant had no site work. This does not appear relevant to the case because while Claimant may have substituted for Mr. Arnewt for two weeks, it does not appear that Mr. Arnewt has personal knowledge regarding Claimant's separation from Employer. Because Claimant failed to show the relevance of the testimony, as required by OAH Rule 2822.2 and as set forth in the Scheduling Order, I will deny the request. Although I am unaware of any authority directly addressing the point, I do not doubt, and the court apparently agrees, that the determination whether or not to issue a subpoena is confided to the ALJ's sound discretion. However, [a]n exercise of discretion must be founded upon correct legal standards, and a trial court by definition abuses its discretion when its makes an error of law. Teachey v. Carver, 736 A.2d 998, 1004 (D.C.1999) (quoting Koon v. United States, 518 U.S. 81, 100, 116 S.Ct. 2035, 135 L.Ed.2d 392 (1996)). Placing the issue in the appropriate legal context, I am of the opinion that the standard implicitly applied by the ALJ was too rigorous. Arnewt's proposed testimony tended to show that, at about the time that Castro claimed to have been laid off, the work that he had been doing became unavailable to him. The ALJ was in no position to determine, before the evidence was heard, that this would not prove relevant, and subsequent developments showed that Arnewt's testimony would have tended, at least to some appreciable degree, to corroborate Castro's version of events and contradict the testimony of Security's witnesses. Had this proceeding been before the Superior Court, Castro would have been entitled to the issuance of the requested subpoena as a matter of right. Rule 45(a)(3) of the Superior Court's Rules of Civil Procedure provides: The clerk shall issue a subpoena, signed but otherwise in blank, to any party requesting it. In Davis v. Winfield, 664 A.2d 836, 839 (D.C. 1995), a case before the Small Claims and Conciliation Branch of the Superior Court's Civil Division (a forum in which many litigants appear pro se ), we explained that [i]n practice, [the Rule] mean[s] that the clerk of the court merely issues a blank subpoena to any litigant who wants one. We also note, as a relevant (though obviously not dispositive) consideration, that [w]here [OAH] Rules do not address a procedural issue, an Administrative Law Judge may be guided by the District of Columbia Superior Court Rules of Civil Procedure to decide the issue. 1 DCMR § 2801.1 (2010). Given the remedial character of our unemployment compensation statute [10] and the inability of many or most claimants to retain counsel, see Rhea v. Designmark Serv., Inc., 942 A.2d 651, 655 (D.C.2008), [11] I am satisfied that the threshold for articulating the relevance of the testimony of a proposed witness was not intended to be a demanding one. Moreover, it is difficult, in advance of the hearing, to anticipate whether a witness' testimony will or will not prove relevant, and in most cases the party requesting the subpoena should be given the benefit of the doubt. To hold otherwise would be to impose on parties in unemployment compensation cases procedural obstacles which most litigants in other forums are not required to confront. In the present case, Castro claimed that he was assigned to the Saudi Embassy for two weeks because Arnewt was temporarily on compassionate leave, and that consequently, Castro's assignment there would end upon Arnewt's return. Rudolph, on the other hand, testified that Security had several openings at the Saudi Embassy because we had a cadre of young officers who just weren't cutting the mustard as far as the client was concerned. It was thus Security's position that Arnewt's return would have no effect on the availability of work for Castro. Accordingly, if Arnewt had been called as a witness and could have confirmed that Castro was his temporary replacement on a one for one basis, such testimony, as the evidentiary record now confirms, would at least arguably have supported Castro's position on a disputed issue. In my view, Arnewt's proposed testimony was therefore at least potentially relevant, and the contrary could not fairly be assumed in advance. By applying an unduly crabbed and restrictive view of relevance when he had no way of knowing how the testimony would unfold, the ALJ at least arguably abused his discretion when he denied Castro's request for a subpoena. Given the ALJ's subsequent credibility findings, however, I perceive no appreciable possibility that a subpoena to Arnewt would have enabled Castro to carry the day before the ALJ. The principal issue in this case turned on what occurred on the days after October 26. Specifically, the ALJ had to determine whether Castro was effectively terminated, as he claimed, or whether he declined further employment with Security, as Martinez and Rudolph asserted. The ALJ appeared to have little doubt as to whom he believed and whom he did not, and it is improbable that any modest support that Arnewt could have provided to Castro's case would have significantly affected the ALJ's findings. Accordingly, although, in my opinion, the ALJ should have been more receptive to Castro's motion for a subpoena, any error in that regard was harmless.