A Dozen Questions to ask your Process Server!

Temecula process server Murrieta process server Wildomar process server Lake Elsinore process server registered process server professional process server
When "shopping" for a process server, here's a few things to ask about:

1) How many attempts will they make? Unlimited? Or do they charge again after three or four tries?
2) Will they file your proof of service for you?
3) Are there hidden charges? Some companies add a surcharge for mileage and/or gasoline, or for mailing on a substitute service.
4) Is your process server currently registered?
5) Do they possess a business license?
6) Insurance?
7) What professional process serving associations do they belong to? NAPPS? CALSPro? USPSA?
8) How long have they been in business?
9) Do they discuss the statutory last days for service so you can get an extension if you're out of time (or almost) before handing over your money to them?
10) Will they back up their service if your defendant says they weren't served? And how long do they maintain their records?
11) Once they get your paper and your money, do they keep you advised of the status?
12) If you're requesting service of an out of state paper, does their fee include preparing a court compliant affidavit and having it notarized?

Cheap isn't always better! For example, in California Small Claims cases (generally) your filing fees and service fees are added to your judgment if you prevail and so you will be reimbursed those process server fees from the defendant as part of the judgment.

If you're looking for a "cheap" server, you'll always find someone who will serve your papers for a few dollars less than the next guy. They can do that because they might not be paying insurance, rent, association fees, or other business expenses. They might be working out of the trunk of their car and using a pre-paid cell phone. But where will they be when your defendant files a Motion to Quash or Motion to Set Aside a judgment because they say either that they weren't served or that they weren't properly served?

Is it worth a few dollars to have to start all over again? The validity of your service is the foundation for the rest of your entire case. A professional process server is not the same as a delivery person. They are required to comply with the codes relative to the court of venue, and those are voluminous.

Ask your questions before you place your documents with the "cheapest" server. You may end up getting what you pay for.

RASCAL

Local, National and International Process Servers

You have a court date and your defendant is no where to be found. Now what?

Call RASCAL (Rancho Attorney Service of California) and let us take the worry away. We are a licensed California private investigator AND a Registered Process Server. We specialize in effecting service of process. Through our state and national associations we can handle your service just about anywhere.

We've been in business since 1977. Our office is in Old Town Temecula. We'll be happy to supply you with references upon request.

If you're shopping for the lowest price, keep looking. We're competitive but we also work with you to provide the lasting results you expect from a professional organization. Knowledge, experience and ability come at a slightly higher price. Since your fees and costs are considered recoverable and added to your judgment if you prevail in the action, you will want a service with an excellent track record rather than a "cut-rate new-kid-on-the-block" price. We've never had a service quashed or set aside in 34 years. That's got to be pretty impressive.

Please feel free to call us at 951-693-0165 so we can discuss your needs and expectations. We also take MasterCard, Visa and American Express.

"RASCAL"

Damage Control - Are you up for it?

(This is an article written by Michele Dawn, owner of Rancho Attorney Service of California, specifically for other national Process Managers. However, there's information in this article that will illustrate why you should hire a Professional Process Management company to handle your services. Internal audit procedures, flexibility, accountability and whether or not your service will survive a Motion to Quash is something many don't consider when they hire a process server!)

Today, we are checking court files to see if the defendants reportedly served by one of our recent subcontractors were defaulted or if they responded or otherwise made a general appearance. We're also reconstructing recent serves, including those that we have service reports on but the proofs or affidavits remain unsigned. These I am reserving for my clients and, even if they lose a few days, they'll ultimately have a clean, unquestionable serve.

Why?

Because we hired a highly recommended hot shot server in San Diego County toward the end of last year who seemed to be an eager beaver. He worked for several large foreclosure process agencies and they loved him. That was then. Before the wave of Motions to Quash hit the fan for these foreclosure firms. We've not had any bounce on us (RASCAL) and we thank our lucky stars for our systems of checks and balances. Others haven't been so fortunate.

Things to watch out for with subs:

1) The server doesn't answer his cell or you get clicked over to voice mail after a couple of rings.
2) He doesn't return his calls or text messages or emails in a timely manner
3) There are numerous attempts at a single address without his verifying that it's good, either by utilities or neighbors or other
4) When he finally contacts you, he has a list of excuses that would fill a notebook ("My eye was infected - I couldn't drive!", or "My son is graduating USC and I need to be with him!" or "My kid ran away and I'm looking for him!", "My phone was dead!", "I never got the service!", "I'm thinking of changing careers and I'm in training!". I'm sure you have heard them all at one time or another, and they always sound so believable.
5) His reports are convoluted and wordy without saying anything specific, and his descriptions are generic.
6) He has numerous sub serves or "John Doe" services, more than the average server.
7) The signatures on the work orders or proofs are dramatically different from previous ones, or from the final proofs.

You, as the primary agency, are only as good as your last serve. Your credibility is only as believable as the validity of the reports and affidavits signed by you or your people. And for God's sake....don't allow or accept any proofs unless they bear the original signature of the actual server that signed them. Compare it to the copy of the server's ID or bond you have in file to make sure.

This can happen to any of us. To tweak a W.C. Fields quote (apologies to Fields): "I never met a con man I couldn't trust!".

Michele Dawn, CA PI 24790 and RPS #117
Chief Investigator and Owner
Rancho Attorney Service of California
RASCAL's Research & Location Services

But we just SAW him last week!

We just saw one of our clients in our office last week when he brought in some papers to be served. He and I did a lot of loving, too. Tummy rubs, scratchies...you know, the stuff a pup likes. He said he was 82 and a retired Marine who joined the service when he was only 17 and he actually fought in World War II. He was pretty chipper and talked a whole lot. He was in our office for a couple of hours, just talking. He seemed really happy to have us to visit with.

Today we got a call from his long-time lady love of 30 years cancelling service because he wouldn't be able to attend the hearing. He died last Friday. Well, gosh! That's pretty upsetting. Here today, gone tomorrow! You never know from one day to the next. In a split second ..."poof"....your flame goes out. I'm really glad we had the opportunity to be nice to him and make him feel good about his time on Earth.

Hmmmmm! Now, I'm taking this as a reminder to tell the people and pups that you care about how much you love them. That love might be the only thing they can take with them when they go to the "Bridge". It's the love that keeps your memory alive, and the love that keeps you warm on your forever journey.

God speed, Mr. Day! We know your spirit is still very strong here because we got the chills just writing about you. May you dance with the angels until we see you again.

Mary-Margaret O'Brien
Vice President
Public Relations

One Rotten Apple.....

One rotten apple spoils the whole barrel, I've heard. There have been a few "process servers" lately that are pretty rotten. Those "bad apples" draw attention to the industry as a whole even though the bad ones are few and far between.

New York State is cracking down on those who take America's Constitutional right to "due process" lightly. See
this article from "Collections & Credit Risk" about the second process serving company to be shut down. The first was American Legal Process (ALP), also out of New York.

Our company, RASCAL (which stands for Rancho Attorney Service of California), has been in business for over 33 years. They follow the laws to the letter and have never had a service "go South". Our rates are competitive and our servers are honest, reliable and credible. There is always going to be someone who charges a few dollars less, but do they have the education, the licenses, and the character that you might rely on down the road if your subject contests service? Will you ever even be able to find that server?

We follow all State and Federal laws and regulations, but first and foremost, we follow The Golden Rule and treat our clients they way we would like to be treated. As strict believers in "Murphy's Law" ("Whatever can happen, WILL happen!"), we'll also back up our services 100% all the time.

We are here to SERVE!!

Mary-Margaret O'Brien
Chief Public Relations Officer
RANCHO ATTORNEY SERVICE OF CALIFORNIA
Licensed PI CA24790 and Registered as #117 Riverside County



Reliable process server Temecula Murrieta California located in Riverside County serving Lake Elsinore Canyon Lake Wildomar Winchester Hemet San Jacinto Fallbrook Anza Aguanga Warner Springs Bonsall Pala Valley Center Perris Menifee Sun City Quail Valley process server

FTC - Session 2 - San Francisco

Session 2 - 9/30/09 - San Francisco <--- CLICK ON LINK

This is a bit over an hour long but very interesting if you want some insight into how problems are identified, bills created, and laws passed. It seems to me that everytime a situation occurs, politicians scurry around trying to solve the problem after the crisis is over.

Wouldn't it be nice if they could imagine what problems MIGHT be and solve them before they occur?

(sigh)

Michele Dawn
RPS 117 & CA PI 24790
Rancho Attorney Service of California &
RASCAL's Research & Location Services
28465 Old Town Front St #318
Temecula, CA 92590
(951) 693-0165
CALSpro NAPPS CAJP NCISS USPSA NAIS NNA
See our website at www.ranchoattorneyservice.com
MC - Visa - American Express

Response to A New York Comment on "Sewer Serves"!

(NOTE: Please watch video before reading. Thanks!)

Interesting, huh? Garodnick's numbers and percentages are obtained how? "80-90% default judgments"? And of all the serves done, he says, "80-90% not served properly"? This was based on a "sample study", he says. "Egads!", I say. If 80-90% of services in New York aren't done properly, what about the rest of the nation?

He begins his speech by saying that it's about "strengthening the very foundation of our legal system". I'm guessing that he means the "right to due process", since he adds "the right to defend yourself in court", but that these 80-90% of defaulted debtors are "only learning they are being sued after they have lost", and "they have never been served with a summons".

So.....taking what, in my opinion, appears to be an obviously politically motivated presentation, based on a sample survey of debtors who defaulted, and Garodnick surmising that 80-90% of them were not served properly, I'm wondering why he's blaming the process servers? (Note: And a "sample survey" is how many exactly?)

Process Servers are disinterested third parties who follow written instructions to serve a defendant at a given address and provide a party to an action with "actual notice" which gives the court jurisdiction over the subject. The instructions are provided, for the most part, by COLLECTORS who are on a commission/percentage of what they collect, or by ATTORNEYS who are also either on a contingency or paid by the hour, or by JUDGMENT RECOVERY SPECIALISTS who have purchased the debt as an asset either by a futures contract or for pennies on the dollar.

How many debtors use the "But I was never served" defense? What percentage of those honestly, after receiving letters, phone calls and "final notices", really had absolutely no idea that the next step was a lawsuit? (a Homer Simpson "doh!" inserted here!)

When are the American people going to take responsibility for their own lack of action and the consequences of same? Why are WE, the professional process servers, expected to police our own industry when any nitwit can call themselves a "process server" without also having education, training and experience? I'm only referring to the states that have little or no requirements, or to California which can't bring itself to distinguish between a professional and some twit off the street that wants to supplement their income until they get a "real job"??

Now, maybe if we worked together to have a National licensing board? NAPPS (National Association of Professional Process Servers) maybe as a model and as a start? After all, isn't "due process" a FEDERAL right guaranteed by our Constitution?

"One bad apple and the whole barrel turns to mush!" is like saying "One lying, cheating politician and our whole country is run by idiots!", from the foot-tapping Congressman to the philandering Senators to the impeached President.

American Legal Process is solely responsible for their own wrong doings. They should be used as a perfect example of why our industry should have National regulation and distinct levels of responsibility.



Rantingly yours (but in good cheer),

Michele Dawn, RPS#117 Riverside
and Licensed PI #24790 California
RANCHO ATTORNEY SERVICE OF CALIFORNIA
& RASCAL'S RESEARCH & LOCATION SERVICES
28465 Old Town Front Street, Suite 318
Temecula, CA 92590
(951) 693-0165 or fax (951) 693-4056
email to: RascalProcess@aol.com