Lee v. Swansboro Country Property Owners Ass'n

In this appeal, we conclude that the trial court erred in ruling untimely plaintiff’s motion to quash a subpoena duces tecum. We therefore reverse and remand to the trial court to consider plaintiff’s motion on its merits.

Facts and Proceedings

In proceedings that are not part of the record on appeal, defendant Swansboro Country Property Owners Association was awarded a money judgment against plaintiff Don H. Lee. On September 2!, 2004, defendant wrote to plaintiff demanding payment of the judgment and stated that if payment was not forthcoming, it would schedule an examination of plaintiff as a judgment debtor. (See Code Civ. Proc., § 708.110 et seq.; unspecified statutory references that follow are to the Code of Civil Procedure.) Plaintiff did not respond, and defendant sent a followup e-mail on September 30.

Plaintiff, who acted in propria persona throughout these proceedings, replied with an e-mail the next day, October 1, 2004, and suggested possible dates for scheduling a debtor’s examination. The parties agreed to communicate again on October 4.

In the meantime, on September 29, 2004, upon application of defendant, the trial court had entered an order for…