(a) A financial institution shall not be required to produce financial records in response to a subpoena unless:

Terms Used In Tennessee Code 45-10-107

  • Clerk of court: An officer appointed by the court to work with the chief judge in overseeing the court's administration, especially to assist in managing the flow of cases through the court and to maintain court records.
  • Code: includes the Tennessee Code and all amendments and revisions to the code and all additions and supplements to the code. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
  • Customer: means a depositor, borrower, member, lessee, other person, or the personal or legal representative or estate thereof, who has, has had, or has contemplated a relationship with the financial institution that caused the financial institution to create, obtain, preserve or maintain financial records pertaining to the person or the person's affairs. See Tennessee Code 45-10-102
  • Docket: A log containing brief entries of court proceedings.
  • Financial institution: means a bank, savings and loan association, industrial loan and thrift company, credit union, mortgage broker, mortgage banker, or leasing company accepting deposits, making or arranging loans and making or arranging leases. See Tennessee Code 45-10-102
  • Issuer: means any person that causes to be issued a subpoena for the production of records. See Tennessee Code 45-10-102
  • Person: means any individual, partnership, corporation, association, trust or any other legal entity organized under the laws of this state, including any department or agency of this state, any county or municipal corporation located in this state, and any court of this state or of the United States. See Tennessee Code 45-10-102
  • records: means any original document, any copy of an original document, or any information contained in the document, other than a customer's name, address, and account number, held by or in the custody of a financial institution, where the document, copy or information is identifiable as pertaining to one (1) or more customers of the institution. See Tennessee Code 45-10-102
  • Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.
  • Subpoena: means any writ, order, or other writing directed to a financial institution, or an officer thereof, and requiring the production of a financial record or records. See Tennessee Code 45-10-102
(1) The subpoena indicates that the requirements of § 45-10-106 have been met;
(2) The subpoena describes with specificity the financial records to be produced, including:

(A) The name and address of the customer to whom the records relate;
(B) The name or functional description of the records;
(C) The time period covered by the records; and
(D) Any additional information necessary to identify the records sought;
(3) The subpoena has been served upon the financial institution on a date that allows adequate time, which shall not be less than fifteen (15) days, within which to locate, copy and deliver the records; and
(4) In civil actions, the subpoena contains a bond for costs incident to the subpoena as provided in § 45-10-108.
(b) By agreement between the financial institution and the issuer or upon proper application to the appropriate court and after notice to the affected person, the fifteen-day period may be shortened where fifteen (15) days are not required, or may be lengthened where fifteen (15) days are not sufficient. Nothing herein shall restrict the power of the appropriate court for good cause shown to cause subpoenas to be issued or responses thereto to be made in less than any of the time periods set forth herein, including instanter.
(c) A financial institution shall not be deemed to violate this chapter because it produces financial records in response to a subpoena containing the representation required under subdivision (a)(1), even if the representation is false and a claim to that effect is made to the financial institution, unless the production violates a court order duly served on the financial institution.
(d) A financial institution refusing to comply with a subpoena that fails to meet all applicable requirements of subsection (a) need not file a motion to quash the subpoena, but shall notify the issuer of the grounds of its refusal within a reasonable time after being served with the subpoena.
(e)

(1) A financial institution may file with the appropriate court a copy of the notice of refusal to comply with a subpoena that was conveyed to the issuer as provided in subsection (d). The copy shall contain a notice to the clerk of court, which shall be prominently on the face of the copy in substantially the following form:

Case / Docket No. ______________

Notice to the clerk of court: Pursuant to Tennessee Code Annotated § 45-10-107, this notice shall suspend issuance of any order to show cause or compel a response to the subpoena issued to the financial institution filing this copy of a notice of refusal to comply with a subpoena.

(2) Receipt of a copy of the notice submitted under subdivision (e)(1) by the clerk of the appropriate court shall serve as notice to the court that the court shall not issue an order to show cause or compel the financial institution to respond to a subpoena that the financial institution has determined fails to meet all the applicable requirements of subsection (a), unless the court deems that the requirements have been satisfied. The notice shall not prevent the court from issuing an order once a subpoena meets the requirements of subsection (a).
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