New York Process Servers Rallying Against Proposed GPS Laws

• January 05, 2011
• by ServeNow.com Staff
• In the News

Process servers in New York City are feeling the squeeze as they struggle with the new GPS proposal issued by the Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA). GPS laws have been a hot topic of discussion for more than a year but the idea was temporarily shelved while the DCA decided whether and how to move forward. Now the DCA has outlined its GPS recommendations, causing many process servers to resent the implications and to ponder how small agencies will survive financially.

The proposed GPS rule

The new proposed rule mandates that process servers in New York City must carry with them an electronic device that records the time, date and location of each serve. This device will need to transmit this information to a third-party provider with whom the process server or agency has contracted service. The rule also requires that the third-party contractor be able to store the digital data for a period of seven years. The DCA says that process servers must be able to furnish records at any time and that the records should be able to presented in the form of interactive street maps if requested.

Along with the time, date and location of serve attempts, the DCA wants each digital record to be labeled with:

• GPS or cellular network date and military time maintained by the mobile device;
• DCA license number of the process server;
• DCA license number of the process serving agency that distributed the process for service;
• Name of the plaintiff or petitioner;
• Name of the defendant or respondent;
• Docket number, if any;
• Name of the person to whom process is delivered; and
• Unique file identifier of the process being served

The objections

The proposed rules are aimed at preventing further incidents of “sewer service,” but process servers have voiced objections about the damaging effects on small agencies. For example, process server agencies that are run by as few as one or two people will be forced to shell out money for GPS technology, as well as pay a third-party provider to store the data for seven years. The small-business owners, whose time truly does equal money since their revenue is earned from serving papers, will also have to spend valuable time entering data for records.

The GPS regulations combined with other costly laws that have already passed in New York City – such as the requirement to get a $10,000 bond for individuals or a $100,000 bond for agencies – add up to a financial burden that many small process server operations simply can’t afford. The New York State Professional Process Servers Association (NYSPPSA) says that larger agencies are already beginning to move into New York City in anticipation of snapping up work vacated by small agencies that are put out of business.

In addition to the financial costs, some New York City process servers also feel that being required to carry GPS at all times undermines a process server’s word that they conducted valid service of process. For years a process server’s signed affidavit has been trusted proof of service, but now a process server’s word is only as good as the digital record to back it up.

The preceding arguments are just a few of the objections that process servers have raised against the rules that have been enacted against them in the past year. NYSPPSA President Larry Yellon and lobbyist Cary David Kessler, Esq., sent letters to the Department of Consumer Affairs detailing their thoughts on each aspect of the new process server rules.

On the horizon

NYSPPSA President Larry Yellon has directed his organization’s legislative committee to draft a response to the DCA’s proposal, which they will submit at a Jan. 27, 2011 hearing.