Art. 1355.1.Reissuance of Subpoena; Service By Certified Or Registered Mail

Trials and hearings get continued, and a subpoena tied to the old date has to catch up to the new one. Article 1355.1 gives a party who already achieved personal service of the original subpoena an alternative to serving the reissued version all over again: mail it instead. The party can still choose ordinary service under Article 1355 if that's easier, but the mail option saves the trouble of tracking the witness down a second time.

To use the mail option, the party sends a copy of the original subpoena along with notice of the new date and time, addressed to the witness's dwelling house or usual place of abode, or, if the original subpoena was personally served on a representative of the witness, to that representative instead. The mailing has to be by registered or certified mail with a return receipt requested, and it has to go out no later than thirty-five days before the new date the witness is expected to appear. The party then files a copy of what was mailed, along with the signed return receipt, in the court record as proof of service.

If the registered or certified mail comes back unclaimed, the mail-based shortcut fails, and the party has to fall back on whatever other service method the law otherwise provides, which in practice means returning to the personal-service route under Article 1355.