Process Servers Forming State Associations for Strength in Numbers

• May 21, 2010
• by ServeNow.com Staff

Many process server associations have formed in response to legislative threats to the industry. The motivation for Bill Clutter, a founding member of the new Illinois Association of Professional Process Servers (IAPPS), came from a physical threat to one of the process servers he employed.

The process server was nearly choked to death by a person who was upset about being served. While this incident was eye-opening in itself, Clutter was shocked to learn that according to Illinois laws, the choking of a process server was only classified as simple misdemeanor battery, and this charge was later reduced to disorderly conduct for the assailant.

Clutter did some research and found that the same crime, if committed against a meter reader or security guard, would be labeled a felony because laws protect those professions more forcefully. This apparent injustice by the state’s legal system led him to rally Illinois process servers to form a state association.

While IAPPS is fully formed and gaining members, Ruth Reynolds and others are busy establishing an association in North Carolina. Reynolds started the first process service company in North Carolina and has been on the front lines of many battles to improve legislation affecting process servers. After years of small successes and frustrating defeats, she became convinced that the best way to fight for the interests of process servers was to organize and collaborate.

In order to give states an idea of what it takes to start an association, ServeNow.com spoke with Clutter and Reynolds to learn about their efforts to build associations, their respective organizations’ goals and their advice for other states without associations.

Building associations from the ground up

Clutter reached out to well-known NAPPS members for advice about starting an association and the amount of help he received was overwhelming. NAPPS board members Larry Yellon, John Perez and J.B. Bannister were quick to offer advice, and they gave Clutter a helpful guidebook for starting an association.

Clutter and approximately two dozen others began contacting NAPPS members from Illinois to find prospective IAPPS members. At the same time, they were filing paperwork for their tax ID and articles of incorporation. IAPPS organizers also looked at bylaws for associations in New Jersey, Florida and elsewhere for help with writing their own.

According to Clutter, IAPPS has committed to using technology to keep process servers informed and organized. The association is having a website built that will be modeled after the NAPPS website and include a searchable database of members.

Since beginning to collect dues in February 2010, IAPPS is already up to 40 members, and Clutter said he expects that number will swell to 100 by the end of the year.

The North Carolina association is far along in its developmental stages, according to Reynolds, and may even be able to elect a board and hold its first meeting by the end of 2010. They are currently drafting a constitution and bylaws, securing a domain name for the website and obtaining nonprofit status from the Secretary of State’s office. Reynolds mentioned 50 members as a number to aim for in the association’s first year.

Like Clutter, Reynolds contacted NAPPS members for assistance, which she said has yielded more than enough help to move the process along smoothly.

“Oh, everybody has been wonderful. Gary Crowe in Oregon has been extremely supportive and has offered any help he can. Same with Larry Yellon in New York, Paul Tamaroff … I’m getting a great deal of backing,” Reynolds said. “Everyone seems to want to assist in helping to ensure that we have another state association with a good voice to represent process servers.”

Establishing objectives and focal points

Clutter understandably plans to address process server safety, but he outlined some of the other issues IAPPS will take on. Continuing education is one such issue that needs attention in Illinois, he said. Process servers are required to have 20 hours of classroom education when hired, but Clutter said no Illinois institution currently provides that education. IAPPS intends to develop a training program for process servers and private investigators where “we can have a social hour where servers work with each other but also invite legislators, and speak directly to them about issues that are important to us.”

IAPPS will ensure that members enjoy benefits such as more affordable liability insurance and worker’s compensation. By combining to form an insurance pool, Clutter said process servers can take advantage of much lower rates. According to Clutter, process servers in Illinois are assessed at the same insurance rate as police officers. During a recent meeting, an IAPPS member mentioned that by obtaining a different classification from his insurance carrier, he had lowered his worker’s compensation rate from $4 for every $100 spent on employee wages to $1 for every $100.

IAPPS is also working on giving process servers access to photo verification from the Secretary of State’s office in Illinois.

In North Carolina, the law states that if a complaint is filed in the state, it has to go to the sheriff first because the sheriff is authorized to serve process. If the papers are not successfully served by the sheriff, private process servers can then take the job. Subpoenas are exempt from that rule. According to Reynolds, that law will be a major target of the North Carolina association because it takes a lot of work away from private process servers.

Reynolds explained that her organization will work to establish a more effective relationship with sheriffs to show that process servers deserve a larger role in North Carolina.

“I think [one of our main goals is] possibly educating the sheriffs and sheriffs’ association on how much we could help them, and the taxpayers on how we can help them as far as keeping taxes down. We can let law enforcement do their duties instead of serving civil process,” she said.

In addition to legislative involvement, the North Carolina association will educate members about ethics, best practices and proper service of out-of-state papers.

Recommendations for states without associations

After playing an instrumental role in forming IAPPS and seeing the camaraderie it has already created, Clutter recommended that other states without associations become organized. He pointed to e-service of process as an industry-threatening issue that could motivate more states to form associations soon.

“If it [e-service] starts popping up in other states that don’t have associations, I think you’ll see some starting up,” Clutter said. “I think it’s important to form associations now to get ahead of legislation that may affect us.”

Clutter said one of the first steps process servers in states without associations should take is getting in touch with NAPPS for a helping hand.

“I think they should definitely contact NAPPS to get guidance and assistance getting started. Create an e-mail list of all NAPPS members and ServeNow.com members and use that list to get organized,” Clutter said.

When asked why some states are still without associations, Reynolds speculated that many process servers are afraid of competition from their peers. What they need to realize, she said, is that things can only improve by banding together.

“A lot of people have all thought that someone’s going to take their business or clients. This industry is very large and there’s enough room for everybody. If we all work together, we can get a lot accomplished. Everybody is holding their cards close and that’s not a good way to do business,” Reynolds said.

Reynolds shared a piece of advice for other process servers that she has learned after joining multiple state associations over the years.

“I’m a member of most of the state associations that are chartered with NAPPS, and it has produced so much work and friendships for me that I encourage people to become members of as many state associations as they can for that reason,” she said.

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