Why Simple Service of Process isn’t Simple

Serving legal documents is a more complicated task than it might seem. Simple service of process assignments are not as simple as they might seem. Here are some of the reasons investigators offer a different solution than the dedicated attorney service companies.

Figure out who is being served

It’s tempting not to even include this here because it seems so obvious. Of course you need to figure out who’s being served with the documents, right? It’s surprising how many process servers, particularly those who operate low-price, high-volume services, do not or cannot take the time to locate the individual or entity they need to serve. Because we are licensed private investigators who are also registered process servers, the Santoni Investigations approach involves getting basic information up front. This preliminary background investigation dramatically improves our success rate on first attempt of service.

If you know where they get their mail, you know where they are

We routinely work with the U.S. Postal Service and individual Postmasters to obtain current information on individuals to be served, including change of address information or P.O. box owner and physical address information. This is a core validation tool that helps us ensure a successful field serve.

 

For respondents who accept mail through a storefront mailbox store, different procedures apply. In California, state law requires private mailbox stores to obtain an acknowledgment of terms and conditions as a prerequisite for service. These conditions include the authorization of the mailbox store, sometimes referred to as a Commercial Mail Receiving Agency or CMRA, to receive service of legal documents on behalf of the boxholder and the consent of the boxholder to the receipt and forwarding of service to their address of record (see California Business and Professions Code section 17538.5). Therefore, these CMRAs often are an alternative to in-person service for orders not requiring personal appearance. It’s worth noting that the same mechanism does not apply in other mail-forwarding scenarios: for example, if your subject is traveling and a local friend is accepting and forwarding mail on their behalf, there is no guarantee the court will accept a declaration of service to the friend or friend’s address. In this scenario, a “skip trace” or locate investigation may be necessary to determine the individual’s whereabouts to facilitate an in-person serve.

Don’t let them hide

Individuals who know or suspect they are about to be served with legal documents frequently will try to avoid the server. These scenarios require additional diligence on the part of the process server to put an end to the “cat and mouse” games. While these time-wasting games can often keep away the high-volume process server (who likely does not have very much time to devote to each serve), the private investigator has some extra tools at their disposal to track down and serve evasive subjects. As a licensed private investigation firm, Santoni Investigations has decades of experience employing discreet contextual contact with subjects, and we often use these tools to create the circumstances in which to execute a serve, without giving the subject cause to suspect they are about to be served.

Make it stick

If anything, the news earlier this year from the New York attorney general’s office alleging widespread failures in properly documenting and serving respondents (the AG’s suit in July 2009 sought to vacate 100,000 default judgments, and resulted in a guilty plea last week from the service company) should serve as a wake-up call for heightened diligence in serving legal documents. Service attempts must be made and properly documented. In most cases, the courts require three legitimate attempts to complete in-person service before it’s acceptable to sub-serve the documents. In the rare instance where this becomes necessary, consider requiring your process server to provide photographic proof of the serve as evidence alongside their declaration of service. After all, the last thing you want is for your proof of service to be rejected by the court. When you work with an experienced firm who does the extra work, you can easily save yourself time and headaches in the long run.