Do You Need a Professional Process Server?
- February 10, 2009
- by ServeNow.com Staff
Need a Process Server? Don’t Cut Corners and Hire Locally
What you don’t know about process serving can get you in trouble or get your case thrown out of court. Newspapers across Ohio had some pretty unusual headlines at the end of June, thanks to the dramatic arrest of the president of the Medina County Bar Association. The crime? The attorney was arrested for trespassing on someone’s property – while he was trying to serve some court documents. Witnesses claimed that the attorney, who was serving papers related to a case he was working on, did not knock and instead walked into a woman’s garage then handed her a subpoena. According to local laws, this would constitute trespassing. The situation has now become even more complicated for the Medina County attorney – his client is facing problems with the case and now he has to fight his own legal battles before being able to help his client with their case.
Had the lawyer in this instance hired a professional Process Server who understood the rules of civil procedure, this may not have happened. For many legal teams, it is the ultimate nightmare: improperly served court papers result in legal action or legal problems that jeopardize a case. In some cases, incorrectly served court papers can get a case thrown out of court, leading to endless hassle for both a lawyer and their clients.
Serving court papers requires a thorough knowledge of the law and investigative techniques, according to experts. With more people willing to sue, more people living in gated communities, and vague trespassing laws, many process servers have their work cut out for them. In fact, some experts think that the number of process service cases that require skip tracing and other investigative work is growing.
The best way to get court papers legally delivered is to hire a process server who is in the same locality as the person being served. Local process servers can offer the following benefits:
1) Local Knowledge. A local server may know areas where people may congregate and may be aware of how to approach a property in order to serve court documents. This facet alone can be invaluable when it is time to serve someone with papers they may not want.
2) Knowledge of Laws. Even very small infractions in law can spell disaster for a court case. A local process serving professional may know trespassing laws and other local laws that can help ensure that your court documents are delivered legally. Seasoned process servers in Florida, for instance, will know that papers cannot be served on Sundays. In Michigan, you are not allowed to serve a person on an election day.
3) Utilizing their Local Network. Local servers may know others – including other investigators and law enforcement officials – who can help if someone proves elusive or unwilling to accept papers.
4) Knowledge of the Area. If you hire a server from another area, they may need time to get familiar with an area before trying to serve documents. This can result in delays and additional expenses – two things you can avoid by hiring a local professional.
5) More Cost Effective. Local process servers can get your papers served for low fees – fees that may increase fivefold or more if you hire national server companies or servers that must drive long distances. Typically nationwide companies or your regular process server will charge you $150 – $200 when you have a serve that is outside of your local area. They have a network of servers to whom they refer business. By going directly to a local company, you can save $100 or more.
Quite often, process servers are willing to drive significant distances – 50 miles or more – to get papers served. It is likely you will be charged a flat rate plus mileage. This gets much more expensive when multiple attempts and rush services come in to play.
6) More Efficient Communication. Local servers cut down the length of the communication chain. By hiring someone local, you reduce the time it takes to get information regarding the status of the serve, which means greater efficiency and less hassle for you.
Find a trusted local process server today
ServeNow.com is a trusted network of local, pre-screened process servers. To find a professional process server, please visit ServeNow.com or call (877) 737-8366.
