Currently, existing law in many states provides for alternative means of service using any resource deemed appropriate to provide actual notice to the party being served IF ordered by the court. Is the Constitutional right to "due process of law" being threatened? Could the implementation of new technologies preclude the current procedure of making application to the court for an order directing alternative service?
As a private investigator (CA PI#24790) who specializes in "due process", Michele Dawn of RASCAL's Research & Location Services is actually working on cases where the subject was improperly served because of the "loosey-goosey" statutes that allow service to be made without proper verification by the server. Tightening up access to personal identifiers may seem, on the surface, to be protecting the American people. In actuality, it facilitates the problems of the American people as a result of bad serves.
Without the ability to verify the entity being served, and with the pressures being placed on the process servers by the legal and the collection communities to "just serve the paper", millions of Americans are finding themselves being defaulted on cases they never knew existed. How many of the volume service companies are finding themselves in the position of either serving the paper as directed or losing a lucrative monthly income? How many have been told "The post office says they're getting mail there...just drop it"? Many agencies insist that the attorney or collector put this in writing, but many others actually find themselves having to decide between their livelihood and their ethics.
Electronic service of process is currently available and being used by large companies who have contracts with corporate Agents for Service, such as CSC, but this is an option that they have agreed to implement. The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) allows for service by email as of January 2009 IF there is an email address on file. If the documents have been electronically filed, and there is NOT an email address readily available, then the petitioner must first notify the defendant of the filing by telephone, and no later than the next day, by overnight delivery service, or with consent, via facsimile. To implement electronic service as the generally accepted method of service upon the vast population of the United States would be difficult, at best.
If "electronic service" ever supercedes the methods currently preferred, then we are going to be looking at a reversal to the days of "guilty until proven innocent". While technology has great potential for expediting information to the masses, it has yet to be proven as a reliable resource for expediting information to persons individually. Think of how many times any of you hit the "delete" key in one day, or ignore the telephone if you don't recognize the number calling. And then think how complicated your life would be if you were intimidated into reading ALL of your correspondence, and answering ALL of your calls because one of them might be informing you of a pending action.
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
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Saturday, July 25, 2009
So You Want to be a Part-Time Process Server?
We get calls, emails and people dropping by all the time who ask about being a process server. "After all", they say, "all you have to do is deliver the paper, right?" Here's an example of one request we received via email. Our subsequent exchange has been edited into this article:
"I am thinking of becoming a RPS (registered process server) to help supplement my income".
In response to your question, I know many men and women who have done this full time and been extremely successful. The idea that you can call your own hours, though, only works if you don't need to make much money. Clients want a no-fuss, no-bother type server who can be places whenever they need you there. Courts require "diligence" before a sub-service can be made on most Summons-type documents (in California, anyway). Diligence means different times, different days, around the clock.
If you are thinking only of working when it's convenient to your child's schedule or after you're finished working your "real job", you may be defeated before you've started. When I got divorced and took our Riverside office as my own I'd work 14 hour days or more, seven days a week. I served, proofed, wrote newsletters, studied laws and Appellate or Supreme Court decisions re service, joined associations, attended conferences and seminars and whatever else I needed to do to be able to honestly provide my clients with the best service possible.
When I contract with a server to work a designated territory, he's expected to serve according to the clients' needs and not his personal schedule. Anyone who says "Oh...but that's up a bumpy dirt road and I don't want to do that..." or tells me, at the last minute, he's "got to go to his kids' ball game so he won't be working today", will find himself without work unless he's previously made arrangements for coverage. If anyone of my office staff accepts a job, they're also committing that they'll handle it personally if the server isn't available.
Taking your child with you can be extremely dangerous, too. It wasn't even a couple of years ago that a female server (and paralegal) in Oklahoma took her 12-year old son with her to serve a paper and her son was shot in the head as he waited for her in the back of her pick up truck. One never knows the dangers out there, be they shotguns or pitbulls, or just plain crazy people. It's hard enough to look out for yourself without having to consider your child's safety, too.
Process serving is a profession....a full-time commitment, in my opinion. I handle my business that way. There will never be enough time to learn everything there is to know. California laws ...Federal....Out of State....Foreign...all different. Screw up a paper and it's your bond and livelihood on the line.
To the client, a server is only as good as the last job. Even if you're batting 1000 for a couple of years, if you mess up ONE time, they'll likely switch to another server.
You might pick up some day work from companies that get subpoenas and bank levies. But then you'd have to know what's involved in the service of each, and you'd have to be registered. The liability in levy work is extremely high, and a faulty writ service might see you ultimately held liable for the full amount on the face of the writ. In California, your bond is only $2,000.00 so any additional judgment awarded against you would come out of your personal (or corporate) assets and potential earnings.
Why don't you study first and see if you're up to it. Then get registered. Then talk to some companies in your area and see if they could use you for back up if their current sub-contractors can't handle the job. There are several good companies to work for. Once you get some knowledge and get registered, you could visit these companies and let them know of your availability.
Keep in mind that MOST companies hire their servers as independent contractors. They will not tell you how to do your job, train you, or provide cars or tools of your trade. To do so would be to violate the laws defining independent contractor vs employee guidelines.
MOST other companies also require that you carry your own insurance and have a business license and a fictitious business name on file, too, to further define the contractor/sub-contractor relationship.
If you want to offer process serving on your own and compete with these companies, be prepared to provide full vendor packets to some clients. That would include your licenses, registration, bonds, and fictitious business names. Your liability insurance carrier would also have to add your client as additional insured. I just did a packet for one of the Homeowner associations I do work for. They ask for everything before they'll even consider giving you their work. Same thing if you want to do work for cities, counties, etc.
Attorneys will rely on YOU to know your job. "Due Process" is only taught as a concept in law school, but the actual mechanics of it is left to the professional server. We need to know changes in the laws as they occur and inform our clients as soon as possible. You'll also need to know basic Rules of Court. Be aware of the proper venues, and the requirements of each. Your clients expect you to catch their errors, or at least they hope you will.
Your continuing education can be costly in both time and money, but you will find many potential clients "shopping" for the cheapest price without giving thought to the quality of the service. They truly think that all one has to do is make delivery of the papers. What they don't know yet is that the manner of service, if faulty in any respect, could cost them their judgment at a later date, and if the statute has run prior to the dismissal, they may also lose their right to pursue their matter through the courts.
"Due Process" is a Constitutionally guaranteed right as well as a privilege. You are the liaison between the court and your subject. You are a professional disinterested third person providing "actual notice" to a party in the action or a witness which will give the court jurisdiction over them in this matter. You are "The Process Server".
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
"I am thinking of becoming a RPS (registered process server) to help supplement my income".
In response to your question, I know many men and women who have done this full time and been extremely successful. The idea that you can call your own hours, though, only works if you don't need to make much money. Clients want a no-fuss, no-bother type server who can be places whenever they need you there. Courts require "diligence" before a sub-service can be made on most Summons-type documents (in California, anyway). Diligence means different times, different days, around the clock.
If you are thinking only of working when it's convenient to your child's schedule or after you're finished working your "real job", you may be defeated before you've started. When I got divorced and took our Riverside office as my own I'd work 14 hour days or more, seven days a week. I served, proofed, wrote newsletters, studied laws and Appellate or Supreme Court decisions re service, joined associations, attended conferences and seminars and whatever else I needed to do to be able to honestly provide my clients with the best service possible.
When I contract with a server to work a designated territory, he's expected to serve according to the clients' needs and not his personal schedule. Anyone who says "Oh...but that's up a bumpy dirt road and I don't want to do that..." or tells me, at the last minute, he's "got to go to his kids' ball game so he won't be working today", will find himself without work unless he's previously made arrangements for coverage. If anyone of my office staff accepts a job, they're also committing that they'll handle it personally if the server isn't available.
Taking your child with you can be extremely dangerous, too. It wasn't even a couple of years ago that a female server (and paralegal) in Oklahoma took her 12-year old son with her to serve a paper and her son was shot in the head as he waited for her in the back of her pick up truck. One never knows the dangers out there, be they shotguns or pitbulls, or just plain crazy people. It's hard enough to look out for yourself without having to consider your child's safety, too.
Process serving is a profession....a full-time commitment, in my opinion. I handle my business that way. There will never be enough time to learn everything there is to know. California laws ...Federal....Out of State....Foreign...all different. Screw up a paper and it's your bond and livelihood on the line.
To the client, a server is only as good as the last job. Even if you're batting 1000 for a couple of years, if you mess up ONE time, they'll likely switch to another server.
You might pick up some day work from companies that get subpoenas and bank levies. But then you'd have to know what's involved in the service of each, and you'd have to be registered. The liability in levy work is extremely high, and a faulty writ service might see you ultimately held liable for the full amount on the face of the writ. In California, your bond is only $2,000.00 so any additional judgment awarded against you would come out of your personal (or corporate) assets and potential earnings.
Why don't you study first and see if you're up to it. Then get registered. Then talk to some companies in your area and see if they could use you for back up if their current sub-contractors can't handle the job. There are several good companies to work for. Once you get some knowledge and get registered, you could visit these companies and let them know of your availability.
Keep in mind that MOST companies hire their servers as independent contractors. They will not tell you how to do your job, train you, or provide cars or tools of your trade. To do so would be to violate the laws defining independent contractor vs employee guidelines.
MOST other companies also require that you carry your own insurance and have a business license and a fictitious business name on file, too, to further define the contractor/sub-contractor relationship.
If you want to offer process serving on your own and compete with these companies, be prepared to provide full vendor packets to some clients. That would include your licenses, registration, bonds, and fictitious business names. Your liability insurance carrier would also have to add your client as additional insured. I just did a packet for one of the Homeowner associations I do work for. They ask for everything before they'll even consider giving you their work. Same thing if you want to do work for cities, counties, etc.
Attorneys will rely on YOU to know your job. "Due Process" is only taught as a concept in law school, but the actual mechanics of it is left to the professional server. We need to know changes in the laws as they occur and inform our clients as soon as possible. You'll also need to know basic Rules of Court. Be aware of the proper venues, and the requirements of each. Your clients expect you to catch their errors, or at least they hope you will.
Your continuing education can be costly in both time and money, but you will find many potential clients "shopping" for the cheapest price without giving thought to the quality of the service. They truly think that all one has to do is make delivery of the papers. What they don't know yet is that the manner of service, if faulty in any respect, could cost them their judgment at a later date, and if the statute has run prior to the dismissal, they may also lose their right to pursue their matter through the courts.
"Due Process" is a Constitutionally guaranteed right as well as a privilege. You are the liaison between the court and your subject. You are a professional disinterested third person providing "actual notice" to a party in the action or a witness which will give the court jurisdiction over them in this matter. You are "The Process Server".
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
Monday, January 28, 2008
About "RASCAL"
Successfully providing quality service, local and nationwide, since 1977.
We specialize in defendant and witness locations.
Check our website for MORE INFORMATION
Rancho Attorney Service of California is bonded, registered #117 Riverside, and is a member of: CALSPro, NAPPS, NCISS, NAIS, CAJP AND USPSA.
RASCAL's Research & Location Services is licensed CA PI 24790
Rancho Attorney Service of California &
RASCAL's Research & Location Services
28465 Old Town Front Street #318
Temecula, CA 92590
Tel: (951) 693-0165
Tel: (951) 693-3333
Fax: (951) 693-4056
Email: Michele Dawn
Fees are calculated on a job by job basis. Please call our office for more information. Or you may download our Work Order and either mail, email or fax to our office with the first page of the documents you want served, and we'll respond with a quote.
Michele Dawn is the owner of "Rancho Attorney Service of California (RASCAL)" and "RASCAL's Research & Location Services". She is a California licensed investigator and Registered process server with over 31 years of experience. Her uncanny ability to locate and serve even the most difficult subjects has earned her a reputation for being one of the best Process Managers in the country. Her associates have informally dubbed her "The Princess of Process".
Michele's outstanding talent as an Internet researcher, combined with her experience as a top-notch skip tracer, and what many call a "sixth sense" about people and their patterns, has consistently provided accurate and expedient return of service to her many national and international clientele, including US Government agencies, Fortune 500 companies, law firms, and individuals.
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