Art. 1352.Restrictions On Subpoena

Before this article, a party might have wondered whether a witness could be dragged across the state to testify. Article 1352 answers that question directly: a witness who resides or works in Louisiana can be subpoenaed to a trial or hearing wherever it's held in the state, without a geographic limit tied to where the witness lives relative to the courthouse.

That reach comes with a condition attached. No subpoena can issue to compel such a witness's attendance unless the party requesting it complies with Revised Statutes 13:3661, a statute outside the Code of Civil Procedure that ties into the witness-fee obligations this chapter addresses elsewhere. In practice, that condition works together with Article 1353's prepayment-of-fees requirement: a party who wants to compel a witness from across the state has to be prepared to cover what the law entitles that witness to before the subpoena can issue.

For anyone planning to subpoena a witness outside the parish where the case is pending, Article 1352 is a reminder to check the fee-related prerequisites in Revised Statutes 13:3661 alongside the Code's own deposit requirement, rather than assuming a subpoena alone gets the witness into the courtroom.