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Vol. 13, No. 9 September 2017
Individual Subpoenas
Attorneys and legal support staff
periodically ask the Clerk’s Office if individual civil subpoenas (particularly
“blank” subpoenas) can be copied and used for multiple witnesses. The Clerk’s
position, based on an informal opinion from the Attorney General’s office, is
that the statutes and civil rules intend for one original subpoena per
recipient. An original subpoena issued by the Clerk is not intended to be
copied and reissued to multiple witnesses or to list multiple witnesses on one
subpoena. With some statutory exceptions for specific agencies, only the Clerk
or the State Bar on the Clerk’s behalf may issue an original subpoena in
Arizona. To make copies of an original blank subpoena and serve them on
different parties would circumvent the rules and statutes that specify the
Clerk as the entity authorized to issue subpoenas. Arizona’s rules do not
provide for attorneys issuing their own subpoenas. If a case requires
subpoenaing 20 witnesses, this protocol requires the Clerk to issue 20
subpoenas—one for each witness. Civil Rule 45(a)(1)(D) requires that all
subpoenas substantially comply with the format approved by the Arizona Supreme
Court in Rule 84, Form 9, Form of Subpoena.
Mental
Health Annex
The superior court has a new,
third location for the court’s mental health calendar, called the ANNEX. The
ANNEX is located in a separate building in close proximity to the Arizona State
Hospital. The ANNEX calendar is intended to provide relief to the mental
health calendar held at the Desert Vista facility in Mesa. The ANNEX calendar
started as a part-time calendar in July, with matters heard on Tuesday and
Friday each week and will continue to build over time. The ANNEX project
is led by the court’s Probate and Mental Health department.
AzCourtHelp.org Virtual Legal Resource Center
– More Than a Website
Arizona’s
Supreme Court recently announced national recognition given to AzCourtHelp.org,
a collaborative resource for Arizona’s courts, which launched in January 2017. The
website received an award for making the best use of technology to improve
court services and access to the public.
AzCourtHelp.org
offers free assistance to people who have legal questions or need assistance
resolving disputes. The virtual legal resource center is especially helpful to
self-represented litigants who would otherwise not have access to legal
resources in their area. Even basic information such as what court to visit for
a particular issue can be confusing to the public. The website addresses legal
questions ranging from divorce and custody to landlord/tenant issues, civil
disputes, and criminal charges. During normal business hours, there is an
online chat feature staffed by court employees and law librarians. Live
webinars on popular topics are available each month at
AzCourtHelp.org/public-events. One popular feature is virtual tours, allowing
users to see what a courthouse looks like, as well as courtrooms, parking
areas, and more. Accessibility features allow text to be read aloud or
translated and users with visual impairments can adjust text size or contrast.
For more information, see the Supreme Court’s announcement online at https://www.azcourts.gov/Portals/201/Press%20Releases/2017Releases/071717AzCourtHelpAwardsJuly2017.pdf#zoom=100.
We’re Closed
The heat will still be here Monday but you won’t
find us. The Clerk’s offices are closed September 4 for Labor Day. If you need
to file, use electronic filing if available or use one of the Clerk’s external
filing depository boxes. The 24-hour filing depository boxes are available for
Criminal, Family Court, Tax, and Probate filings and for some Civil filings.
The boxes are not for any Juvenile filings or for Civil filings that must be
eFiled. Find the box locations online at http://www.clerkofcourt.maricopa.gov/alternative_filing.asp.
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