An Investigative Report on Evading Service of Process
- September 04, 2012
- by Kimberly Faber
- Videos
Last week the Fox 5 Investigation Team in Lakewood, Georgia presented a special story about a local business that continues to receive government contracts even though they’ve been avoiding lawsuits and evading process servers. The story reveals how the owners have been evading service, the types of lawsuits involved, and comments from former employees as well as the companies that are trying to sue.
About the company and lawsuits
A family-owned business, Scott and Sons, is involved in many taxpayer-funded projects including sewer work, sidewalk construction, street work, housing authority jobs, and more. One company was asked to leave a property after completing 8 days worth of demolition totaled at $25,500 dollars. When the owner asked about the contract, one of the brothers noted that he never signed his half, wrote her a check for $2,500 and promised her a new job. The company cannot afford to sue Scott and Sons. Another woman claimed that they used her status as a female business owner and estimator to land large government contracts and would then hire other companies to do the work.
The failed service attempts
More than 60 failed attempts have been logged against the two brothers and their father, including at the location of the business and at their homes. Reasons cited include refusing service, jumping in the car and fleeing, refusing to take the paperwork and even one instance during which the brother hopped in his car and drove through the front yard to get away from the process server who was blocking him into the driveway. A former employee shared that the brothers employed a variety of tactics to evade service, including switching cars, keeping the door locked, scrambling to hide, and ordering employees to take photos of the cars and license plates of process servers who were attempting to effectuate service. The cost of these delays has caused a number of companies to drop their lawsuits.
In response to the failed attempts, the Scott’s recently hired attorney Mawuli Mel Davis explained, “That’s obviously not something that the company is proud of and is not something that will continue to be a part of their business model.” He also noted that he never advised the brothers to try to dodge process servers. Investigative reporter Randy Travis noted that with only a few feet distancing the business’s front door from the cars parked on the street it’s understandable that process servers may have trouble effectuating service. Travis attempt to approach one of the brothers for a comment, but he stepped into his car and drove away.
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