CDPH Office of Legal Services – Service of Process for Subpoenas and Lawsuits

UPDATE: JANUARY 26, 2022 (PDF)

To comply with public health officer guidance during this time of social distancing, the Department of Public Health, Office of Legal Services (OLS), has limited access and reduced staff on site. Because of this, personal service of subpoenas and lawsuits are not being accepted at this time.

Please follow the instructions below.

For service of subpoenas please read each option below carefully:

For subpoenas requesting medical or investigation records, please serve the documents on the district office that licenses the health facility in question, either by personal service or via postal mail.

These subpoenas will not be accepted by mail at our legal office address. 

A list of the district offices and the counties they cover is available at the CHCQ Website.

Once you access the link above, you will see counties listed under each district office address. Determining the county the health facility is in will help you determine the correct district office to serve.

For subpoenas requesting medical or investigation records for health facilities in Los Angeles County, please serve:

L.A. County Public Health Department

5555 Ferguson Drive, Suite 120-04

Commerce, CA 90022

For service of all other subpoenas, please mail them to:

California Department of Public Health

Office of Legal Services

1415 L Street, Suite 500

Sacramento, CA  95814

For service of summons and complaints and writ petitions: 

Please email the documents to: CDPHserviceofprocess@cdph.ca.gov  

Please note, although we acknowledge receipt of the documents, until we state that service is proper, nothing will be deemed accepted.

Subpoenas will not be accepted at this mailbox.

Our standard practice of personal service acceptance will recommence once
normal business resumes.