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Evasive Process Service (Service of Process)
Under U.S. civil procedure, Service of Process is the court’s procedure used to give legal notice to a person (such as a defendant) or entity. This occurs to notify and allow them to respond to the proceeding. Generally, notice is provided by delivering a set of court documents to the person(s) or entity to be served.
Business Challenge
Usually, process service is simple and straight-forward: a defendant needs to be notified that they are being sued, so in most cases, a process server will simply travel to the defendant’s home, knock on the door and serve them. But occasionally, individuals that need to be served attempt to evade process service.
Many do this in belief that “it will just go away” as long as they avoid be served. While it is true that civil procedure requires plaintiffs’ to file “proof of service” to prove that a specific party was properly served and notified of the upcoming court proceedings, this does not create a loop-hole that allows one to avoid being sued.
What do you do if a defendant in your case is intentionally avoiding process service and your court date is looming? Who do you call when your regular process server cannot locate the current whereabouts the defendant?
Business Solution
Kent Perkins, my retired mentor was fond of saying, “Justice rides a slow horse, but it always overtakes.”
The professionals at Diversified Risk Management are well-versed with dealing with evasive parties who do not wish to be served. We have seen it all: padlocked gates, reckless driving and defendants running away on foot.
Contact us today so we can formulate a stratagem and serve your evasive party. No more delays, no more re-scheduled hearings.
Case Study
Two co-defendants in a fraud lawsuit needed to be served at the home they shared in an affluent neighborhood. Previous process servers had noted that the defendants had essentially barricaded themselves in their home: they padlocked the gate leading to their front door, stopped leaving the house (including taking out the garbage) and put in a surveillance camera on their roof to ensure there was no one waiting around the corner waiting to serve them.
Our investigators had a tall order, to say the least. We staked out the residence and each time they left the house (usually once or twice a week) we would move in to perform service.
Each time, they would speed off at 50 miles an hour in a residential neighborhood or retreat back into their home. On one occasion, we observed them leaving to some kind of event; they were dressed to the nines and looked excited as they opened their garage. The second they saw our investigator, they retreated back inside and abandoned their plans for the evening!
Finally, after weeks and weeks of surveillance and dozens of attempts, we successfully served the defendants. How? Call us today to find out.