Enforcement Mechanisms in Administrative Adjudications

In the California Government Code, Title 2, Division 3, Part 1, Chapter 4.5, Article 11, there are provisions related to subpoenas. Section 11450.05 specifies that this article applies in an adjudicative proceeding required to be conducted. In addition, an agency may use the subpoena procedure provided in this article in an adjudicative proceeding, in which case all the provisions of this article apply including, but not limited to, issuance of a subpoena at the request of a party or by the attorney of record for a party.

Section 11450.10 allows subpoenas and subpoenas duces tecum to be issued for attendance at a hearing and for production of documents at any reasonable time and place or at a hearing. The custodian of documents that are the subject of a subpoena duces tecum may satisfy the subpoena by delivery of the documents or a copy of the documents, or by making the documents available for inspection or copying, together with an affidavit.

Section 11450.20 requires subpoenas and subpoenas duces tecum to be issued by the agency or presiding officer at the request of a party, or by the attorney of record for a party. The process extends to all parts of the state and be served in accordance with specified sections of the Code of Civil Procedure.

A subpoena or subpoena duces tecum may also be delivered by certified mail return receipt requested or by messenger. A subpoena issued and acknowledged pursuant to this section has the same force and effect as a subpoena personally served. Failure to comply with a subpoena issued and acknowledged pursuant to this section may be punished as a contempt and the subpoena may so state. No witness is obliged to attend unless the witness is a resident of the state at the time of service.

Section 11450.30 provides that a person served with a subpoena or a subpoena duces tecum may object to its terms by a motion for a protective order, including a motion to quash. The objection is required to be resolved by the presiding officer on terms and conditions that the presiding officer declares. A subpoena or a subpoena duces tecum issued by the agency on its own motion may be quashed by the agency.

Section 11450.40 specifies that a witness appearing pursuant to a subpoena or a subpoena duces tecum, other than a party, is required to receive for the appearance specified mileage and fees, to be paid by the party at whose request the witness is subpoenaed.

Section 11450.50 states that, in the case of the production of a party to the record of a proceeding or of a person for whose benefit a proceeding is prosecuted or defended, the service of a subpoena on the witness is not required if written notice requesting the witness to attend, with the time and place of the hearing, is served on the attorney of the party or person.

Article 12 deals with the enforcement of orders and sanctions. Section 1145.10 provides that a person is subject to the contempt sanction for any of the eight specifies actions in an adjudicative proceeding before an agency. 

Section 11455.20 allows the presiding officer or agency head to certify the facts that justify the contempt sanction against a person to the superior court in and for the county where the proceeding is conducted. The court must then issue an order directing the person to appear before the court at a specified time and place, and then and there to show cause why the person should not be punished for contempt.

Section 11455.30 allows the presiding officer to order a party, the party’s attorney or other authorized representative, or both, to pay reasonable expenses, including attorney’s fees, incurred by another party as a result of bad faith actions or tactics that are frivolous or solely intended to cause unnecessary delay. The order, or denial of an order, is subject to judicial review in the same manner as a decision in the proceeding. The order is enforceable in the same manner as a money judgment or by the contempt sanction.