I was subpoenaed in a dispute between my client (buyer) and seller of a restaurant. The summons arrived two years after the inspection. My inspection noted many shortcomings in the property and referrals to specialists with respect to cooking equipment, walk-in freezer and on and on. Property also had severe roof problems (flat roof). Lo and behold, after close/sale of property, there was a huge/long rainstorm and a portion of the roof caved in causing damage. Insurance paid for everything so (supposedly) no harm no foul. Well, buyer (my client) decided they wanted to get insurance or seller to pay for additional remodeling that was not part of the insurance claim. So they (buyer) started to muddy the waters and filed a lawsuit seeking $$. Goes without saying I was nervous and after my first visit with the buyer's attorneys I had some, but not much relief. Both sides had called in high-dollar companies for their professional opinions as to all the circumstances. My report was sort of in the middle of the whole she-bang ... but none of the reports I was able to see (I did see them all) took any exception to what I did/reported on. (Whew) Anyway ... yes, I was called as an 'expert witness' (sort of), but it was termed as a 'fact witness' and thus being I was on my dime and not allowed to charge anyone for my time. This suit went on for yet another two years and I had to contact my attorney to review all the documents to ensure I wasn't being set up. That cost me $$ that I could not recover as well. Anyway ... bottom line is that 1/2-day before the supposed actual court session (the court data had been set/cancelled/reset 5 times over 2-1/2 years) the buyer's attorney called and said they had settled out of court. BTW - I was never contacted by the buyer (my client) about this and never once talked with them after I went over all my findings that were in my report at the time of the inspection. I honestly don't like getting calls like that or knocks on my front door from the local sheriff with a subpoena. Thank goodness I've only had one and that is enough. .