(a) Persons subpoenaed. Any person whose attendance is compelled by a subpoena, whether or not actual testimony is taken, shall receive for each day’s attendance fifteen dollars for attendance fees and twenty-three cents as travel expenses for each mile to the place of attendance from the place where he or she was served, and return. There shall be no mileage fee for travel wholly within a city.
§ 8001.Persons subpoenaed; examination before trial; transcripts of records.
Article 80. Fees · Last amended 1989 · Last verified July 21, 2026
In one sentenceCPLR 8001 sets the fees a subpoenaed witness collects for attendance, travel, extra time spent at a deposition, and any transcript the witness has to produce.
Full Text of CPLR 8001
(b) Persons subpoenaed upon an examination before trial. If a witness who is not a party, or agent or employee of a party, is subpoenaed to give testimony, or produce books, papers and other things at an examination before trial, he shall receive an additional three dollars for each day’s attendance.
(c) Transcripts of records. Wherever the preparation of a transcript of records is required in order to comply with a subpoena, the person subpoenaed shall receive an additional fee of ten cents per folio upon demand.
Plain-English Summary
A subpoena compels a person to show up, but it does not ask that person to work for free. CPLR 8001 fixes what the party who issued the subpoena owes the witness: fifteen dollars for each day of attendance, plus twenty-three cents a mile for travel to and from the place where the witness was served, measured by the most direct route. Travel entirely within a city does not generate a mileage charge, since the drafters treated in-city travel as too short to warrant one.
Subdivision (b) adds a separate payment for a narrower group: a non-party witness, someone who is not a party and not an employee or agent of a party, who is subpoenaed to testify or produce documents at an examination before trial. That witness collects an additional three dollars for each day of attendance, on top of the base fee in subdivision (a). The distinction matters because depositions can run longer and demand more preparation than a quick court appearance, and the extra sum recognizes that difference, modest as it is.
Subdivision (c) covers a different kind of burden: preparing a transcript. If complying with a subpoena requires the witness to produce a written-out transcript of records, the witness can charge an additional ten cents per folio once demanded. These dollar figures are set by statute and have not moved with inflation, so the amounts on the books can look small next to the actual cost of a day away from work or a stenographer's time.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does CPLR 8001 do?
It sets the fees owed to a person compelled to attend by a subpoena: a base attendance and mileage fee, an added fee for non-party witnesses at depositions, and a per-folio fee for producing a transcript of records.
How much is a witness paid under CPLR 8001?
Fifteen dollars for each day of attendance, plus twenty-three cents per mile of travel to the place of attendance and back, measured by the most direct route. There is no mileage charge for travel that stays entirely within a city.
Does every witness get the extra three-dollar deposition fee?
No. That additional daily fee under subdivision (b) applies only to a witness who is not a party and not an agent or employee of a party, and only when the witness is subpoenaed to testify or produce material at an examination before trial.
Who pays the fee for preparing a transcript under CPLR 8001?
The party who served the subpoena pays the person subpoenaed an additional ten cents per folio, once that person demands it, for preparing a transcript of records needed to comply with the subpoena.
Are these witness fees adjusted for inflation?
No. The dollar amounts are set by statute and have stayed fixed since past amendments, so they do not automatically track rising costs over time.
Do parties or their attorneys collect witness fees under CPLR 8001?
The section is aimed at third-party witnesses. Courts have long treated it as improper for a party to subpoena themselves or their own attorney merely to run up fees against an opponent.
Advisory Committee Notes
Although witness and mileage fees may not be intended to compensate completely for the losses incurred in attending, there is no need to allow the sum to become absurdly small. Since 1840, the only change has been to raise witness fees in response to a subpoena duces tecum from fifty cents to one dollar a day. New York’s witness compensation fares poorly in comparison with that allowed in other states. Mileage fees are allowed for travel and return as is the rule in most jurisdictions. Since the process compels attendance even if return is not made immediately, the return when made is a result of the process. As in former practice, the most direct route is the one to be used. Mileage within city limits will not be reimbursed. Provisions governing various non-judicial proceedings and those in CPA § 1541, relating to judicial proceedings, make certain persons ineligible to receive fees. Thus, in non-judicial proceedings, officials, applicants or the person being investigated are ineligible. This subd does not affect those provisions. In judicial proceedings, fees are not allowed to parties testifying in their own behalf, or on the part of someone united in interest, or to attorneys testifying for their clients. Thus, CPA § 1541 formerly prevented a party from ordering himself or his attorney to appear so that he could burden his opponent with costs. That section has been dropped. Common sense is sufficient to deal with that tactic.
Subd (b) of this section has been discussed in the notes to rule 3106(b). The appropriate form will bring it to the attention of the witness. If it is felt by the court that an added allowance for legal service is necessary, it may condition the grant or denial of the motion to quash upon such allowance under § 2304.
Subd (c) of this section extends the provision of CPA § 1540-a to all proceedings where a transcript must be prepared in response to a subpoena.
Amendment History
Add, L 1962, ch 308, § 1, eff Sept 1, 1963; amd, L 1988, ch 23, § 1, eff Jan 1, 1989.
Source & verification. Provision text, History, and Advisory
Committee Notes are reproduced verbatim from the Consolidated Laws of New York.
Last verified July 21, 2026.
· Official source
Also known as: witness fees New Yorksubpoena attendance fee NYdeposition witness fee CPLRmileage fee subpoenatranscript fee subpoena New York