60-228a. Uniform interstate depositions and discovery act. (a) Citation of section. This section may be cited as the uniform interstate depositions and discovery act.

(b) Definitions. In this section:

(1) "Foreign jurisdiction" means a state other than this state or a foreign country.

(2) "Foreign subpoena" means a subpoena issued under authority of a court of record of a foreign jurisdiction.

(3) "Person" means an individual, corporation, business trust, estate, trust, partnership, limited liability company, association, joint venture, public corporation, government or political subdivision, agency or instrumentality or any other legal or commercial entity.

(4) "State" means a state of the United States, the district of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin islands, a federally recognized Indian tribe or any territory or insular possession subject to the jurisdiction of the United States.

(5) "Subpoena" means a document, however denominated, issued under authority of a court of record requiring a person to:

(A) Attend and give testimony at a deposition;

(B) produce and permit inspection and copying of designated books, documents, records, electronically stored information or tangible things in the possession, custody or control of the person; or

(C) permit inspection of premises under the control of the person.

(c) Issuance of subpoena. (1) To request issuance of a subpoena under this section, a party must submit a foreign subpoena to a clerk of court in the county in which discovery is sought to be conducted in this state and pay the docket fee as required by K.S.A. 60-2001, and amendments thereto. A request for the issuance of a subpoena in this state under this act does not constitute an appearance in the courts of this state.

(2) When a party submits a foreign subpoena to a clerk of court in this state, the clerk, in accordance with that court's procedure, must:

(A) Promptly issue a subpoena for service on the person to which the foreign subpoena is directed; and

(B) assign the subpoena a case file number and enter it on the docket as a civil action pursuant to K.S.A. 60-2601, and amendments thereto.

(3) A subpoena under subsection (c)(2) must:

(A) Incorporate the terms used in the foreign subpoena; and

(B) contain or be accompanied by the names, addresses and telephone numbers of all counsel of record in the proceeding to which the subpoena relates and of any party not represented by counsel.

(d) Service of subpoena. A subpoena issued by a clerk of court under subsection (c) must be served in compliance with K.S.A. 60-303, and amendments thereto.

(e) Deposition, production and inspection. K.S.A. 60-245, and amendments thereto, applies to subpoenas issued under subsection (c).

(f) Application to court. An application to the court for a protective order or to enforce, quash or modify a subpoena issued by a clerk of court under subsection (c) must comply with the statutes of this state and be submitted to the court in the county in which discovery is to be conducted.

(g) Uniformity of application and construction. In applying and construing this uniform act, consideration must be given to the need to promote uniformity of the law with respect to its subject matter among states that enact it.

(h) Application to pending action. This section applies to requests for discovery in cases pending on the effective date of this section.

History: L. 2010, ch. 135, § 1; L. 2011, ch. 48, § 9; July 1.