Subpena

To day I got a phone call from a lawyer. To see if I have photographs of someone at a rodeo. They told me they would send me a subpena if I needed one and could compensate me for them. No mention of how much
compensation would be. My real question I guess is do they set the price and I have to take it or do I set it. This is if I really do have any of the photographs they want.

What do they want them for?

A workmans comp case

WOW really no one has anything to say?

Best thing you could possibly do is talk to the guy who called you. If you have questions, don't be afraid to ask them. If you think he might compensate you for your work on your terms, have a price ready. Don't be afraid to negotiate. If they need your photos for the trial, supply and demand dictates that you are in a powerful position. But I like to remember what Jim Cramer says on his show: "Bears make money, Bulls make money, pigs get slaughtered."

If it were me. I'd have him draft up a terms-of-use document stating that they will only be used for the legal proceedings, and not for commercial use. And I'd ask for a nominal fee, which might be on par with a personal use sale.

He'll pay you whatever you want. The money they will save and/or recover will have your fee tacked on right along side his. You just made his job real easy.

Well I coach a elementry basketball team and my dad video tapes the games for us. In one of our games 2 kids got into a fight. Well the kid from the other team punched the kid from my team pretty bad and while the referees were slow to react the kid from my team's father came on to the court to stop the fight he grabbed the kid from the opposing teams arm with the intention to pull him off his son. No harm was done but of course the other teams parents said he bruised his arm, and pushed him and lots of accusations came about. Then my players father's attorney called me and asked me for the video tape knowing I had recorded it all and also reminded me if i didn't turn it in willingly they would supbena it or whatever it's called forcing me to turn in a copy.
So I guess when stuff like this happens we have to turn them in no matter what.
Just my little short and maybe confusing story.
-Joey

For everyone. - it's spelled subpoena.

Does not seem to be a criminal case, like said above it is probably a civil thing. I can tell you if it was criminal the State can issue a subpoena and you will not be paid at all. In fact you would probably have to testify in court to taking the picture and not altering it. I'm a Deputy in Florida

I work in a dental office - people get injured on the job and come to us for treatment. Eventually the lawyers request the records. The amounts we can charge them for the records are spelled out in state statutes - I am in Wisconsin. So, you could very will be limited by the law in what you receive for those "records."

On the other hand, my sisters ex-next door neighbor was constantly filing injury suits against anyone he could for any reason. The last one he was claiming he was completely disabled from a very low speed rear end accident - basically he was "tapped" by the person behind him while he was stopped at a red light. Anyway, a private investigator knocked on my sisters door and asked what she thought about his injuries. She hadn't even heard of the "accident." The investigator asked if she could "keep an eye on him." She did and video taped him building a fence and lifting 6 foot x 6 foot sections of the fence, wood, by himself. He was supposedly totally disabled. Ya right. She just turned over the tape. He was and still is a crook.

I wouldn't charge him anything more than what you would sell any other rodeo picture for.
If he has cause to believe you possess evidence in his case he could ask the court to allow him to examine your computer etc. and just take it.
Don't think of evidence as a commodity.

Dave

yup its just easier to hand it over instead of look for a payout

I think a trial is one of those exceptions where you should let them use a photo for free.

Thanks everyone for your knowlege. I did reach my lawyer last night. I am able to charge almost any price a I want. They can ask for a price list to check my normal charges. I am able to charge them for the time taken to look for the pictures. This will be the hard part 5 years of rodeo. The ones contacting me will be sending me a subpena or subpoena (both are correct I googled legal glossary for the spelling)for my records.
So far no luck finding anything of him. So maybe this all has been for nothing. Atleast its all more good info for everyone to have.

well if the photos happen to disappear or get corrupt or cropped in a fashion that is not useable to the investigator looking to bring about charges, I guess he is back to the drawing board for evidence. I see no reason from profitting just as the investigator is