Legal Question in Business Law in California

As I said in my previous answer, you are likely to be called as a witness to testify at trial as to the matters of which you have knowledge. You might be called by Company X as its friendly witness, or by Company A as a hostile witness, or both. At some point during examination under oath by Company A's lawyers, you may be asked if you have a personal financial stake in the outcome of the case, i.e., are you possibly biased in your testimony? The question may come in various forms. You will be a more useful witness if you can honestly say that you have no financial stake in the outcome of the case. Also keep in mind that you can be subpoenaed to testify at a deposition or at trial, in which case you will be entitled to only what the Government Code provides; see, e.g. Gov't. Code section 68093 which provides for $35 a day and 20c a mile payment to witnesses.

And as I told you in my previous answer, no witness is entitled to payment for their testimony other than the statutory witness fees Mr. Whipple mentioned. You are free to ask, and they are free to say "yes" or "no." For the reasons Mr. Whipple explains and I explained in my previous answer, they are far more likely to say "no," because it will taint your testimony if they pay you. I never pay a witness except an expert witness, although if they would incur expenses that are not covered by the statutory fee, I will usually make sure it doesn't actually cost them out of pocket to appear as a favorable witness.