Plaintiffs in the underlying out-of-state litigation served a subpoena on a non-party, New Jersey resident, seeking his deposition pursuant to Rule 4:11-4(b). The trial court denied the witness's motion to quash the subpoena and for a protective order. On appeal, the witness argued the trial court had misapplied the law regarding discovery of non-party witnesses and had failed to recognize that the subpoena was harassing and sought duplicative, irrelevant, and confidential information.
The court affirmed the order. Acknowledging a court must consider certain factors when addressing a discovery dispute involving a non-party witness, the court held the trial court had not abused its discretion or misapplied the law when it concluded the non-party witness could not avoid being deposed by claiming a lack of relevancy or relying on unsupported, blanket assertions of harassment and confidentiality.