In my role as an attorney helping and advising appraisers and appraisal firms, I have been contacted lately by a number of appraisers who have been served with a subpoena.  Typically, the subpoena will seek to compel the appraiser to appear and testify before the court or at a deposition or to produce and permit inspection and copying of named documents (usually the appraisal and work file.)  In some cases, the compelling party is neither the client nor a named intended user and the issue in the related action is nowhere close to the intended use of the appraisal.

There are a number of issues to be evaluated and possible steps to take once an appraiser is subpoenaed.  In addition to me, there are also some good sources of information on this topic.  First, the North Carolina Appraisal Board has published a very good article on page 4 of their February 2011 newsletter.   The article is not attributed to a particular author.  Next, Claudia Gaglione provides guidance on things to keep in mind when an appraiser has been subpoenaed related to an old appraisal and the file has been shredded.

So next time you are subpoenaed, relax, take a deep breath and do what you need to do.  Ignoring it and hoping it goes away is not a viable option.  HS5J6JTKG26H
 
 
 
 
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