The exposure in non-party discovery isn’t the subpoena. It’s the notice you owed the other parties before you served it. Minn. R. Civ. P. 45.01(e):
Any use of a subpoena, other than to compel attendance at a trial, without prior notice to all parties to the action, is improper and may subject the party or attorney issuing it, or on whose behalf it was issued, to sanctions.
Look at the scope. It doesn’t say “a subpoena for documents”; it says any use of a subpoena, other than to compel attendance at a trial. A deposition subpoena to a treating physician. A records subpoena to an employer. A subpoena to inspect premises. And the consequence the rule names isn’t exclusion of the material. It’s sanctions against the party or the attorney.
This is where federal habit gets you in trouble. Here’s the whole of Fed. R. Civ. P. 45(a)(4): “If the subpoena commands the production of documents, electronically stored information, or tangible things or the inspection of premises before trial, then before it is served on the person to whom it is directed, a notice and a copy of the subpoena must be served on each party.” Minnesota’s rule has no such trigger, and there are seven more differences flagged below.
What is the sequence, exactly?
Notice first, then serve. For a document subpoena, there’s a seven-day floor before the production date. Rule 45.02(a):
A subpoena commanding production for inspection, copying, testing, or sampling of designated books, papers, documents, or electronically stored information, tangible things, or inspection of premises, must be served on the subject of the subpoena, and notice of the required production must be served in the manner prescribed by Rule 5.02 on each party to the action, at least seven days before the required production.
A subpoena returnable in five days can’t comply.
One wrinkle. The 2007 Advisory Committee Comment says the rule “does not specify the form of notice required, but it would normally be accomplished by providing either a copy of the subpoena at the time it is served on the non-party or by unambiguous notice in some other way that a non-party is being subpoenaed.” The rule text says prior notice. The comment describes serving a copy at the same time as the normal method. Resolve that tension in one direction only: first, or at the very least at the same moment. Never after.
What can the subpoena command, what must it say, and who issues it?
Testimony; production and inspection (including copying, testing, or sampling) of books, documents, electronically stored information, or tangible things in the person’s possession, custody, or control; and inspection of premises. Rule 45.01(a)(3). Those commands may be joined with a command to appear at trial, hearing, or deposition, or issued separately.
Four things have to appear on it: (1) the name of the court from which it is issued; (2) the title of the action, the name of the court in which it is pending, and its court file number, “if one has been assigned”; (3) the command; and (4) —
contain a notice to the person to whom it is directed advising that person of the right to reimbursement for certain expenses pursuant to Rule 45.03(d), and the right to have the amount of those expenses determined prior to compliance with the subpoena.
A form pulled off a federal template won’t have item (4). The federal rule requires the text of Fed. R. Civ. P. 45(d) and (e) instead. Fed. R. Civ. P. 45(a)(1)(A)(iv).
Item (2)’s “if one has been assigned” isn’t filler either. Minnesota commences an action by service, so a case can be pending, and subpoenas can issue, before there’s a court file number. The 2006 Advisory Committee Comment: “Because Minnesota allows actions to be commenced by service, the action is ‘pending’ before the court named in the caption after service even though it is not on file with the court.”
Either the administrator or you may issue it, in the name of the court where the action is pending. The administrator issues one signed but otherwise blank to the requesting party, who fills it in before service, and an attorney as officer of the court “may also issue and sign a subpoena on behalf of the court where the action is pending.” Rule 45.01(b)–(c). Rule 45.01 also leaves out the federal requirement that a deposition subpoena state the recording method. In Minnesota that lives on the deposition notice under Rule 30.02(b).
How is it served, and how far does it reach?
By any person who isn’t a party and is at least 18 years old, and Minnesota allows an abode substitute the federal rule doesn’t. Rule 45.02(a): service “shall be made by delivering a copy thereof to such person or by leaving a copy at the person’s usual place of abode with some person of suitable age and discretion then residing therein and, if the person’s attendance is commanded, by tendering to that person the fees for one day’s attendance and the mileage allowed by law.” The federal rule requires “delivering a copy to the named person” and, where attendance is commanded, tendering fees and mileage. Fed. R. Civ. P. 45(b)(1).
Service reaches the whole state. Compliance stops at the county line. Rule 45.02(b): “Subject to Rule 45.03(c)(1)(B), a subpoena may be served at any place within the state of Minnesota.” Rule 45.03(c)(1)(B) supplies the limit: a person who isn’t a party or an officer of a party can’t be required to travel to a place outside the county where that person resides, is employed, or regularly transacts business in person, except that such a person “may in order to attend trial be commanded to travel from any such place within the state of Minnesota,” subject to Rule 45.03(c)(2)(C). The Minnesota yardstick is the county, not the federal 100-mile radius of Fed. R. Civ. P. 45(c)(1)(A).
What protections does the non-party have?
Three, and all of them come before anybody files a motion.
A duty on the lawyer who issues it. Rule 45.03(a): “A party or an attorney responsible for the issuance and service of a subpoena shall take reasonable steps to avoid imposing undue burden or expense on a person subject to that subpoena.” The issuing court “shall enforce this duty” and impose an appropriate sanction on a party or attorney in breach, “which may include, but is not limited to, lost earnings and a reasonable attorney’s fee.”
No appearance for a documents-only subpoena. A person commanded to produce or permit inspection “need not appear in person at the place of production or inspection unless commanded to appear for deposition, hearing, or trial.” Rule 45.03(b)(1).
A written objection, within 14 days, that stops production cold. Rule 45.03(b)(2) lets the recipient, “within 14 days after service of the subpoena or before the time specified for compliance if such time is less than 14 days after service,” serve upon the party or attorney designated in the subpoena a written objection to producing the materials. What the objection does is the whole point: “If objection is made, the party serving the subpoena shall not be entitled to inspect, copy, test, or sample the materials or inspect the premises except pursuant to an order of the court by which the subpoena was issued.” A timely objection puts the burden on you to move to compel, and any resulting order must protect a non-party or non-officer “from significant expense resulting from the inspection, copying, testing, or sampling commanded.”
On what grounds must the court quash or modify?
Four, and Rule 45.03(c)(1) says “shall.” On timely motion, the court on behalf of which the subpoena was issued shall quash or modify a subpoena that:
- “fails to allow reasonable time for compliance” — 45.03(c)(1)(A);
- requires a person who is not a party or an officer of a party to travel outside the county where that person resides, is employed, or regularly transacts business in person, subject to the trial exception above — 45.03(c)(1)(B);
- “requires disclosure of privileged or other protected matter and no exception or waiver applies” — 45.03(c)(1)(C); or
- “subjects a person to undue burden” — 45.03(c)(1)(D).
On what grounds may the court quash, modify, or impose conditions?
Three. Rule 45.03(c)(2) is discretionary and reaches a subpoena that:
- “requires disclosure of a trade secret or other confidential research, development, or commercial information” — 45.03(c)(2)(A);
- “requires disclosure of an unretained expert’s opinion or information not describing specific events or occurrences in dispute and resulting from the expert’s study made not at the request of any party” — 45.03(c)(2)(B); or
- requires a non-party or non-officer of a party “to incur substantial expense to travel outside the county where that person resides, is employed or regularly transacts business in person to attend trial” — 45.03(c)(2)(C).
The third is a Minnesota holdover. The federal discretionary list has only the first two. Fed. R. Civ. P. 45(d)(3)(B)(i)–(ii). In any of the three, the court may quash or modify, or may instead “order appearance or production only upon specified conditions” if the issuing party shows a substantial need that can’t otherwise be met without undue hardship and assures reasonable compensation. Rule 45.03(c)(2)(C).
Does the non-party get paid?
Many do, and setting that up before compliance is due is your job. Rule 45.03(d):
Subject to the provisions of Rules 26.02 and 26.03, a witness who is not a party to the action or an employee of a party [except a person appointed pursuant to Rule 30.02(f)] and who is required to give testimony or produce documents relating to a profession, business, or trade, or relating to knowledge, information, or facts obtained as a result of activities in such profession, business, or trade, is entitled to reasonable compensation for the time and expense involved in preparing for and giving such testimony or producing such documents.
Preparation time is inside the entitlement, and Fed. R. Civ. P. 45 has nothing like it. Rule 45.02(d) sets the timing: “The party serving the subpoena shall make arrangements for reasonable compensation as required under Rule 45.03(d) prior to the time of commanded production or the taking of such testimony.” If you don’t, the person subpoenaed may move to quash or object in writing.
What happens after the documents arrive?
You share them, and if the production moves, you give notice. Rule 45.04(a)(5) is the subdivision people miss most, and it has no federal counterpart either:
The party issuing a subpoena for production or inspection shall make available to all parties any books, papers, documents or electronically stored information obtained from any person following issuance of a subpoena to that person. If production or inspection is made at a time or place, in a manner, or to an extent and scope, different from that commanded in the subpoena, the party issuing the subpoena must give notice to all parties to the action at least seven days in advance of the rescheduled production.
The paragraph closes by giving every party the right to attend and participate in any noticed or rescheduled production. The 2010 Advisory Committee Comment states the purpose: it “is intended to reinforce that the proper use of a subpoena for production is to obtain information for use by all parties to the litigation, and not for ex parte use by a single party.” Cut an informal deal with a custodian to produce on different terms and you’ve triggered the seven-day notice.
The rest of Rule 45.04(a) covers form of production, ESI form, and the not-reasonably-accessible showing, which routes back to the proportionality limits of Rule 26.02(b)(3).
What if the non-party ignores it?
Rule 45.05: “Failure by any person without adequate excuse to obey a subpoena served upon that person may be deemed a contempt of the court on behalf of which the subpoena was issued.” The rule then builds in one automatic excuse: “An adequate cause for failure to obey exists when a subpoena purports to require a non-party to attend or produce at a place not within the limits provided by Rule 45.03(c)(1)(B).” A subpoena that reaches past the county limit isn’t just quashable. Ignoring it is excused by the rule’s own terms.
Venue follows the target. Under Rule 37.01(a), an application for an order to a non-party “shall be made to the court in the county where the discovery is being, or is to be, taken.” Rule 37 covers the motion, the conferral certification, and the fee shifting.
If the case is pending somewhere else and the witness is here, the route is Rule 45.06, Minnesota’s Uniform Interstate Deposition and Discovery Act provision. Submit the foreign subpoena to the district court administrator in the county where the discovery is to be conducted, Rule 45.06(b)(2), or have a Minnesota-admitted attorney issue and sign it, Rule 45.06(b)(1). Know going in that the request “does not constitute an appearance in a proceeding pursuant to Rule 5.01 of these rules, but does subject the filer to the jurisdiction of the court and to Minnesota law and rules, including the Minnesota Rules of Professional Conduct.” Rule 45.06(b)(1).
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Sources: Minn. R. Civ. P. 45.01(a)(1)–(4), 45.01(b), 45.01(c), 45.01(e); 45.02(a), (b), (d); 45.03(a), 45.03(b)(1)–(2), 45.03(c)(1)(A)–(D), 45.03(c)(2)(A)–(C), 45.03(d); 45.04(a)(1)–(5); 45.05; 45.06(b)(1)–(2); and the Advisory Committee Comments to the 2006, 2007, and 2010 amendments to Rule 45. Also Minn. R. Civ. P. 30.02(b) and 37.01(a). Federal comparisons from Fed. R. Civ. P. 45(a)(1)(A)(iv), 45(a)(1)(B), 45(a)(4), 45(b)(1), 45(c)(1)(A), and 45(d)(3)(B)(i)–(ii). Minnesota rule text: the published Minnesota Rules of Civil Procedure, August 10, 2026; Rule 45.02 carries amendments effective January 1, 2006, July 1, 2007, and July 1, 2010, Rule 45.04 an amendment effective July 1, 2021, and Rule 45.06 amendments effective July 1, 2015 and July 1, 2021 — no part of Rule 45 carries a 2026 amendment notice. Federal rule text: the Legal Information Institute’s publication of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, August 10, 2026.
General legal information about Minnesota procedure, not legal advice. No attorney–client relationship is created by this article, and no outcome is promised or implied.