When an Administrative Law Judge at the Texas Department of Insurance, Division of Workers’ Compensation issues a subpoena and the target of the subpoena fails to comply, either the ALJ or the party requesting the subpoena may seek an order compelling compliance from a state district court. But the party resisting issuance of the subpoena may not seek an order quashing the subpoena from the district court. That is the holding of the Fifteenth court of appeals in an opinion by Justice Scott Field in February.
The court was considering a subpoena issued by an ALJ in a claim involving the death of Lauren Smith, a paramedic for Fort Bend County EMS who passed away while at home. Her spouse, Joshua Heiliger, filed a claim for death benefits, contending that Lauren died in the course and scope of her employment because stress from working a 48-hour shift was a factor in her death.
Fort Bend County disputed compensability and sought a subpoena for Lauren’s mental health records from John Marcellus, M.D., the psychiatrist who prescribed Lauren’s ADHD medication. Fort Bend County argued that those records were relevant because Dr. Marcellus might have taken into account Lauren’s hypertension along with her complaints about stress.
The ALJ issued the subpoena over Heiliger’s objection, and Heiliger filed suit seeking a temporary restraining order against the issuance of the subpoena in district court. Fort Bend County and the ALJ filed pleas to the jurisdiction, but the district court granted the request for a TRO and, later, a temporary injunction. Fort Bend County and the ALJ then filed interlocutory appeals of the district court’s temporary injunction order.
The court of appeals found that the temporary injunction order was void because the district court had no jurisdiction to enter it. The court explained that the Texas Government Code expressly permits a party or an ALJ to seek an order compelling compliance with an ALJ’s subpoena from a state district court. Tex. Gov’t. Code §2001.201(a). But, the court said, “conspicuously absent from the remedies the Legislature provided is the ability for the objecting party to seek relief from the subpoena in district court.” In re Fort Bend County, 2026 WL 502194, February 24, 2006.
