Subpoena was not Meant for Plant Worker

ANDOVER — A subpoena served at the North Andover Water Treatment Plant last week by Andover police was not intended for water operator Shawn Rock, even though the police log said it was handed to him.

The subpoena was addressed to the "keeper of records" at the plant, according to North Andover Assistant Town Manager Ray Santilli. A "keeper of records" is anyone who can access the records, he said.

"It wasn't intended for anyone specifically in North Andover," Santilli said.

Santilli said Rock was the person on duty and accepted the subpoena when Andover Detective Michael Lane dropped it off around 9 a.m. last Wednesday. It was written in Andover's police log that the subpoena was "served in hand to employee Shawn Rock" but it did not say it was addressed to the records keeper.

The subpoena is one of two served last Wednesday by Andover police. The other was served in hand to Cynthia Vaughn, who previously worked as a water compliance specialist in Andover, at her West Newbury home.

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Former Andover Water Employee Served a Subpoena at West Newbury Home

ANDOVER — Police served a subpoena to a former employee of Andover's water treatment plant at her West Newbury home last week.

The subpoena comes after police Chief Brian Pattullo announced in September that the district attorney's office is preparing evidence to present to a grand jury as the result of an investigation into allegations of criminal misconduct involving two former employees at the Lowell Street water treatment plant.

Cynthia Vaughn, who previously worked as a water compliance specialist in Andover, was served the subpoena by Andover Detective Michael Lane at her 1 Dole Place home in West Newbury around 9:45 a.m. Dec. 22.

Lt. James Hashem said the subpoena is part of "an ongoing district attorney investigation" and declined to comment further. He referred all questions to the Essex County District Attorney's office.

Stephen O'Connell, spokesman for the district attorney's office, declined comment on the matter.

Town Manager Reginald "Buzz" Stapczynski said that Vaughn previously worked for the town but was "terminated" from her post in August. She was hired by the town in July 1996, according to the town's Human Resources Department.

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Problems with Foreclosure Notices Loom as Next Flaw in Process

Improperly served foreclosure notices may be the mortgage industry's next roadblock to repossessing homes.

The Florida attorney general's office is investigating two of the state's largest companies that serve court summonses on homeowners, while at the same time judges are throwing out rulings based on faulty deliveries.

This month, appeals courts in Miami and Palm Beach County sided with homeowners in foreclosures where judges agreed their summonses were not appropriately served.

In the Miami case, the homeowner said she was recovering at her mother's home after surgery when the person serving her the summons swore he personally handed it to her at her residence.

But the server's own notes on the file showed he left the documents at the door after seeing curtains move and assuming someone was home. The homeowner later said she had no knowledge of the foreclosure until a final judgment was entered against her.

"Curtains may move because of the wind or curious cats, and not just because some prospective defendant is attempting to avoid service," the appeals decision noted.

Once entrusted only to sheriff's deputies, summonses may now legally be handled by "special process servers" certified by the court. With the crush of foreclosures statewide, process service has become big business.

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Judge Enforces Chevron's Subpoena of Penn. Lawyer

(CN) - A federal judge said Chevron can subpoena a Pennsylvania lawyer and his firm over his role in a $113 billion environmental lawsuit against the oil company in Ecuador. Meanwhile in Ecuador, one day after a judge closed the window to submit new evidence, Chevron tried to invalidate the complaint because it allegedly contains forged signatures.

Joseph Kohn of Kohn, Swift & Graf forfeited his right to attorney-client privilege by letting a documentary crew film strategy sessions, U.S. District Judge Jan DuBois found.

Kohn and another attorney, Steven Donziger, helped Ecuadorians sue Chevron over damage to their community from 30 years of drilling in the country conducted by Texaco, which became a Chevron subsidiary in 2001.

In a bid to draw international attention to the case, and mount pressure on Chevron, they also invited filmmaker Joseph Berlinger to document the rainforest devastation. Berlinger's access gave him an intimate look at the legal strategy adopted by the plaintiffs suing Chevron in Lago Agrio, Ecuador.

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Lawyer's Ties to Convicted Process Server Probed

The Nevada State Bar is investigating whether longtime attorney Lizzie Hatcher was truthful to authorities about her professional dealings with the convicted owner of an unlicensed process serving company.

The owner, former Las Vegas police officer Maurice Carroll, was convicted in October of perjury and submitting false affidavits in court.

Assistant Bar Counsel Phil Pattee said Friday that the investigation is the result of a Sept. 9 Las Vegas Review-Journal article on Hatcher's links to Carroll. The report said Hatcher had made conflicting statements about her relationship with Carroll and his company, On Scene Mediations.

Pattee said the results of the investigation will be turned over to a screening panel of the bar's Southern Nevada Disciplinary Board to decide whether to pursue sanctions.

It is against bar rules of professional conduct for a lawyer to engage in "dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation," or to make false statements to judicial officers.

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Florida Attorney General Investigating Companies That Serve Foreclosure Papers

The first step in foreclosure process is that the homeowner is supposed to informed that the foreclosure is beginning.

But as millions of Americans face foreclosure, even the process of alerting the homeowner with the serving of a summons has been filled with errors. The Times-Union wrote about some of those problems in October. You can read that story here.

Now the Miami Herald has disclosed that the Florida attorney general is investigating two of the larger companies whose job it is to deliver those papers. The Herald reported that investigation began earlier this month of Gissen & Zawyer Process Service of Miami and ProVest of Tampa.

ProVest is one of the nation's largest process servers. It was also the company involved in several of the cases that the Times-Union wrote about in October. A judge threw out one foreclosure case when he determined that the summons was allegedly served before the case was even filed.

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AccuServe Process Server Seeks Law Firm Clients as Doggedly as Defendants

AccuServe LLC’s daily grind is the stuff of TV movies.

The doorbell rings. The protagonist answers to what he thinks is a flower delivery, but the delivery agent drops the flowers and slaps a thick envelope into his hands instead.

“You’ve been served,” the agent says, then spins on his heels and walks away.

Believe it or not, the cliché is sometimes true, said Kirk Wilhite, co-owner of AccuServe, a Grandview Heights-based process service firm. But it’s not common.

“It’s true, there can be a lot of trickery to it. A lot of people are expecting the complaint or summons, so they try to evade service. It’s not uncommon for them to not answer the door,” Wilhite said.

Not that that helps them. Wilhite said in AccuServe’s eight months in business, he has a 100 percent success rate.

In a nutshell, the business of process serving focuses on a brief and elemental moment in civil cases – the serving of a civil complaint, summons or subpoena. AccuServe is a small but growing firm that wants to make that moment in time big business.

With only $5,000 in start up costs, Wilhite said the company has done $20,000 in its first eight months in business.

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Bill to target process servers

In Mississippi, not much is required to be a process server, and some lawmakers believe that needs to change.

Rep. Hank Zuber, R-Ocean Springs, says he'll file a bill in the 2011 Legislature that would require licensing and educational training for process servers. Zuber believes the proposal, which died in the past, will have a chance next session because of the recent scrutiny given process servers handling child support cases for the Mississippi Department of Human Services.

Earlier this year, judges in Hinds and Jackson counties were reviewing hundreds of child support cases to determine whether some process servers had lied about delivering subpoenas.

The process servers worked for subcontractors of YoungWilliams Child Support Division, a Jackson-based company that received a $23 million contract to file about 15,000 cases, manage another 13,000 and operate a call center. Company President Rob Wells has said about 30 of those cases are being reopened because they involved a process server facing the allegations.

Zuber said there have been other instances of process servers failing to properly perform their jobs and it's caused hardships for average citizens. Zuber said the case of Natalie Parker of Ocean Springs is the reason he first filed the bill in 2008.

Parker's driver's license was revoked in 2003 and, because of that, she missed out on job opportunities. She eventually wound up living in her car. Zuber said Parker had told him about how a process server had lied about delivering papers to notify Parker about a lawsuit that had been filed against her.

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U.S. Subpoenas GOP Records

Federal investigators slapped the Republican Party of Florida with a subpoena seeking financial records as part of a wide-ranging corruption probe by the FBI, IRS and U.S. Attorney's Office, the Herald/Times has learned.

The subpoena, delivered Election Day, sought documents related to big spending by top Republican honchos who were given party-paid American Express cards.

Top RPOF officials and investigators declined to comment on the federal probe or the subpoena.

For more than a year, the party has reeled from scandals tied to the credit cards as well as four unrelated state criminal probes into its former chairman, a fundraiser, a former Florida House speaker and a Capitol insider.

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Eddie Montgomery's Wife Tracy Files for Divorce

It's not shaping up to be the most wonderful time of the year for Eddie Montgomery. Just a couple of weeks ago the Montgomery Gentry singer revealed that he's been diagnosed with prostate cancer. Now his publicist has confirmed that his wife of more than two decades, Tracy, has filed for divorce.

According to publicist Kirt Webster, Tracy called Eddie Tuesday night and asked what he was doing. As it happened, he was having dinner at his steakhouse in Kentucky with the couple's 23-year-old daughter Brooke. Shortly after the call, a process server presented him with divorce papers right there at the table in front of his daughter.

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You've Been Served, Thanks to Company's iPhone Program

Consumers who default on credit- card payments may get an opportunity to meet an employee or agent of Scott Levine.

Levine, owner of JJL Process Corp. of West Palm Beach, Fla., operates a legal process serving company and many of his clients are credit card companies.

So consumers who fail to make payments on their credit cards shouldn't be surprised to meet one of his iPhone-carrying workers on their doorstep. The JJL worker will be serving the individual with notice that he is a defendant in a civil lawsuit, often over an unpaid credit card debt.

That's not good news, of course, but it beats the alternative: Not getting served and finding out that you face a default judgment because you didn't respond to the lawsuit.

Levine's company has a copyrighted software application for the iPhone that enables him to use the global positioning system track his process servers and determine that they indeed did go to the homes of defendants. The process servers take a photo of the home to show that they stopped there, and global positioning system backs up that evidence.

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Good Service of Process

In reality, foreclosure starts when the complaint is filed against the homeowner. Then service of process happens, informing Joe Homeowner that a lawsuit is filed against him and with a summons to reply.

If you know a process server is coming after you, do not hide. Process servers will find a way to find you, which may not be convenient to your schedule or dignity. Foreclosures rarely happen at opportune times, but you can control having papers served to you at your home as opposed to while you are out shopping.

Service of process does start the clock, but it is okay for the clock to start. The court needs to get jurisdiction over the dispute and the human. That human is the homeowner. Our justice system is big on notice and opportunity to be heard. Service of process gives the homeowner notice and an invitation to answer.

For the standard complaint or lawsuit, the defendant has twenty calendar days to answer the summons. That is more time than you need to panic, but a reasonable period in which to get legal advice.

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New App Keeps Process Servers in Check

Grand Junction, Colo. (KKCO) - A new phone application will keep court paper servers in check across the globe and the creator lives right here on the western slope.

Local business owner Mike Kingrey created CivilMap.com amid reports nationwide that process servers have not been able to make all their deliveries. Experts say an outdated system has only been feeding into the problem.

Kingrey's CivilMap application will ensure those vital documents will always be signed.. sealed and delivered.

"They do their paperwork electronically and it also electronically verifies everything that transpired during that service," says Kingrey.

The CivilMap application is already getting national recognition with nods from the Amercian Bar Association and positive reviews from the Department of Consumer Affairs.


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New Group Wants Tougher Laws for Assaults to Professional Process Servers

The Illinois Association of Professional Process Servers, newly established, has three goals for the organization: Push for tougher penalties for attacking a process server; encourage mandatory training and certification for process servers; and, ask for uniform laws on the status of process servers.

IAPPS vice president Bill Clutter, who is a private investigator in Springfield, says anyone who is a process server knows that, at times, "It can be a risky occupation." He says one of his agents was nearly choked to death by a man who refused to accept service, and Clutter cites a case in Southern Illinois in which a man poked a server and shot into the air in order to scare her off his property. Clutter says state lawmakers should make it a felony to attack a process server, offering more of a deterrent than the current misdemeanor.


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Case Dropped Against Process Server

The Denver District Attorney's Office dropped a controversial case of criminal mischief filed against a process server who claimed he was a crime victim, not a suspect.

Lynn Kimbrough, a spokesperson for the Denver District Attorney's Office, said a deputy prosecutor "felt the facts of the case didn't support us proving that to a jury" and dismissed the charge on Wednesday.Police and prosecutors had charged Richard Bellizzi after a June 24 incident, which was caught on videotape.

Bellizzi was attempting to serve divorce papers on Englewood anesthesiologist Dr. Oksana Bantley. When the car Bantley was driving stopped on Colorado Boulevard, Bellizzi approached the driver's side and began shouting to Bantley.

Bellizi identified who he was and that he was serving her with divorce documents. Bellizzi was videotaping with one hand, a common measure he says for cases where the subject has tried to avoid being served. He says Bantley had avoided another process server.

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New Questions Being Raised About Court Filings in Foreclosure Cases

The expanding investigation into Florida's foreclosure crisis has turned up a new problem that may involve a number of cases: Individuals hired by law firms to notify struggling homeowners when their foreclosure cases are to be heard in court may have filed faulty or false documents.

Foreclosure defense attorneys and consumer advocates say they have documented a number of foreclosure cases where "process servers" filed questionable paperwork. State investigators who are examining foreclosure documentation problems -- involving law firms that employed "robosigners" to rapidly process claims -- are also taking a close look at process servers, court documents show.

According to lawsuits filed on behalf of homeowners, some individuals appear to have violated the rules of process serving: the personal delivery of legal papers, required by law, notifying people that a foreclosure action has been filed against them. Like "robo-signing" -- the mass signing of foreclosure documents without review by loan servicers -- it's an alleged practice that is putting lenders, and the foreclosure law firms serving them, under fire.

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Parker: Toll gets tricked on Halloween by Process Server

Trick, not treat. Erin Toll answered her doorbell on Halloween armed with treats to dole out to little witches and goblins, but instead she was tricked.

A process server tricked the former director of the state's Division of Real Estate into bagging a subpoena to attend a deposition in an insurance case.

"OMG. I went to the door when the bell rang with the candy in hand, and I was SERVED! Very sneaky. Gotta give the process server credit," Toll wrote on her Facebook page Sunday.

It may have been sneaky, but it's not a tactic that law enforcement officers or private process servers use to track down those who are difficult to find.

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Bank of America, JPMorgan Get Texas Subpoenas on Foreclosures

Oct. 26 (Bloomberg) -- Bank of America Corp., JPMorgan Chase and Co. and seven other banks or loan servicers were subpoenaed by Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott for information about their foreclosure practices, a spokesman said.

“The state is subpoenaing information and documents,” Jerry Strickland, the spokesman, said yesterday in an interview. He didn’t elaborate. The state also subpoenaed Ally Financial Inc., CitiMortgage Inc. and Wells Fargo and Co.

Abbott began investigating foreclosure practices in Texas following the disclosure of a December deposition in which an employee of Ally’s GMAC Mortgage unit testified that his team signed about 10,000 documents a month without verifying their accuracy. On Oct. 13, all 50 state attorneys general announced a joint investigation of foreclosures.

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Lindsay Lohan - Process Server Fails To Hand Lohan Legal Papers

A photographer who is suing Lindsay Lohan is struggling to serve the actress with legal papers - a process worker was turned away recently as he tried to present her with the lawsuit during her stay in rehab.

The Mean Girls actress is accused of failing to honor a deal to give snapper Scot Nathan a one per cent share in her clothing line 6126 in exchange for a photo shoot.

He launched legal action against Lohan in April (10) and a process server attempted to visit the troubled star at the Betty Ford Clinic in Rancho Mirage, California earlier this month (17Oct10) - but he was denied access and instead gave the papers to the security guard.

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SLO Process Server Gets New Felony Charge

Lyza Johnsen, a process server with the San Luis Obispo-based Johnsen & Johnsen Legal Support Services, was taken into custody on Oct. 20 during an appearance at SLO County Superior Court.

Facing three felony charges and one misdemeanor ranging from writing bad checks to grand theft, Johnsen was originally scheduled for an arraignment. But on Oct. 19, the District Attorney’s Office filed another felony charge claiming that Johnsen wrote another bad check just days before her court appearance.

Deputy District Attorney Matt Kerrigan asked Judge Michael Duffy to sign an arrest warrant for the latest case before Johnsen was arraigned on her other felony charges. According to Kerrigan, Johnsen wrote a check for about $1,500, using an account that was closed after she allegedly wrote about $50,000 in bad checks, for which she is now facing felony charges.

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MBS Investors Get Themselves Organized for Repurchase Lawsuits

GMAC Mortgage is following the lead of Bank of America, assuring the public about independent reviews and returning to the foreclosure process in the 23 judicial states when those reviews are completed. They continue the party line of all servicers that they have “found no evidence to date of any inappropriate foreclosures.”

This flies in the face of the standard practice to reward fraud at the foreclosure mill law firms.

"Some employees of Florida’s largest “foreclosure mill” were given jewelry, cars and houses from the firm, in exchange for altering and forging key documents used to obtain foreclosures, according to a statement released today by the Florida Attorney General’s Office.

The office released transcripts of two interviews it conducted for its investigation into the law offices of David J. Stern. The sworn statements were from Kelly Scott, a former employee of Stern’s and Mary R. Cordova, a former employee of G&Z, a process server used by Stern’s office. The women’s testimonies appear to back up that of former Stern’s employee Tammie Lou Kapusta, whose statement was released last week. The three statements paint a picture of a secret system designed to speed up the foreclosure process. Attorneys and staff members forged signatures, changed dates, passed around notary stamps, the women say in interviews with attorney general’s staff.

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TEMECULA: City Having a Hard Time Serving Tribe With Suit

The city of Temecula hit an early hurdle with its lawsuit against the Pechanga Band of Luiseno Indians: The tribe won't allow a process server to enter the reservation to formally serve the suit, city officials said Wednesday.

Mayor Jeff Comerchero said he's been briefed on the situation and he said the city plans to continue to make every attempt to serve the tribe.

If the tribe ultimately succeeds in stymieing the city's process server, however, Comerchero said there are other options.

"We go into the court and demonstrate that (the difficulty in serving the tribe), and that should suffice," he said.

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Charges dog a SLO process server

At first, Brian Stacy believed everything Lyza Johnsen told him. He originally hired her as a process server in his lawsuit against French Hospital Medical Center. Soon, though, Johnsen was providing him advice and putting him in contact with experts who would help his case—or so he thought.

When Johnsen first told Stacy she would put him in touch with a clever Santa Monica-based paralegal named Hope O’Connell, he didn’t think much of it—he just wrote a check. When he saw that O’Connell’s e-mail was a Gmail account, he didn’t think much of it—and he wrote some more checks. After writing about $24,000 worth of checks to Johnsen, a woman who was recommended to him, he started to get suspicious.

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Broward Law Firm Challenges Foreclosure Subpoena

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- A Broward County judge is mulling over a law firm's challenge to the validity of Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum's investigation into foreclosure practices.

Attorneys for the Law Offices of David J. Stern claimed Tuesday that the attorney general's office has no authority to investigate. State lawyers contend they have authority in their role as consumer advocates.

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Laura Dern Surprised By Divorce Papers

A process server went to Laura Dern's home on Saturday with divorce papers and demanded that she come to the door ... or else, sources tell TMZ.

We're told the couple's nanny came to the door and told the process server she would accept the divorce papers Ben Harper filed late Friday afternoon, but sources say the process server

fired back that if Laura didn't come to the door he'd find her out in public and embarrass her.

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New Subpoenas Issued In John Edwards Campaign Probe

Federal prosecutors have issued a new round of subpoenas in their probe of John Edwards' campaign finances -- giving the investigation seemingly stalled for a year fresh signs of life, the Associated Press reported.

Lawyer Wade Smith told the AP that he learned from other attorneys and sources that several new subpoenas were issued, but declined to discuss who received the subpoenas or what those subpoenas were seeking. Smith did not immediately return a message left by TPMMuckraker, and Justice Department spokeswoman Laura Sweeney said the department was declining comment.

But according to CNN Producer Raelyn Johnson, prosecutors are casting net "much wider than they did a year ago."

"They're talking about people who were schedulers, staffers, small-time staffers, including very, very big people involved with the campaign," she said Thursday.

Edwards, who ran for president in 2004 and 2008, admitted in 2008 that he'd had an affair with Rielle Hunter, a videographer on his campaign -- though, initially, his former aide Andrew Young announced he was the father of Hunter's child. Earlier this year, Edwards publicly admitted for the first time that he fathered Hunter's child and Edwards and his wife Elizabeth separated after 30 years of marriage.

The feds are looking at whether the Edwards campaign used funds to cover up his affair. Hunter and Young made appearances at a federal courthouse in Raleigh, N.C. last year to testify before a grand jury. Young said he did not receive a subpoena this time around.

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Call Girl Hits Back at Beckham, Files Lawsuit Claiming She Told Truth

As if he didn't have enough issues to deal with, David Beckham is getting hit with a countersuit by former call girl Irma Nici.

Nici has been making the rounds claiming she had a one-night stand with the soccer stud—leading him to sue In Touch, which first printed her story. Now, she says the backlash sent her to the hospital and Beckham must pay!

Nici and her lawyer, Paul Rolf Jensen, issued a carefully worded statement Friday announcing their legal action seeking to have Beckham's lawsuit tossed.

"The former call girl who was sent to the hospital earlier this week as a result of the hounding she received at the hands of David Beckham and his legal team has struck back," their statement began.

Without specifically mentioning any affair or the In Touch report, they claim that Nici did "tell the truth to the press" and that should keep her from being targeted in a lawsuit.

"California law does not allow public figures like David Beckham to stifle free speech. Maybe he didn't live here in Los Angeles long enough to learn how precious we here consider our rights to tell the truth in print," says Jensen.

"Beckham must have confused American law with the law back in his home country, where there isn't a such a sacred respect for free speech."

We're not certain how up to speed Becks is with American law, but he's sure getting a crash course this week.

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ACC Bank Granted Permission to Serve Legal Papers on Jim Corr

ACC Bank are to bring High Court proceedings against musician Jim Corr and another man arising out of an alleged failure to repay a €1.3 million loan obtained to buy land.

The dispute arises out of loan agreement the Dutch-owned bank claims it entered into with Mr Corr and Mr Liam Marks of the Coach House, Sandymount, Blackrock, Dundalk, Co Louth for the purchase of 91 acres of land at Barrowmount, Goresbridge, Co Kilkenny.

The bank claims that last June it demanded repayment of €1.36 million from both men.

However ACC says that the money has not been repaid, and intends to seek judgment for the full amount against both men. The bank loan was sanctioned in 2004.

Mr Corr (46), along with his three sisters, is a member of the internationally acclaimed Dundalk band the Corrs.

Today, ACC secured an order from the High Court allowing them to serve the musician notice of the proceedings that the bank intends to bring against Mr Corr at his place of residence in Bangor, Co Down by ordinary post.

In documentation put before the court, a lawyer acting for ACC expressed his belief that Mr Corr had been evading being served notice of the bank’s proceedings against him.

Mr Justice John MacMenamin granted ACC an order for substituted service allowing the bank to serve Mr Corr notice of the proceedings by ordinary prepaid post at his normal place of residence at an apartment Sharman House, Old Windmill Road, Crawfordsburn, Bangor, Co Down.

The court further made an order allowing the bank to serve further documentation arising in the course of the proceedings on Mr Corr by ordinary prepaid post. The orders were granted on ex parte basis (one side only.) In seeking the orders, Bernard Dunleavy Bl for ACC told the court that the ACC had been unable to effect service on Mr Corr, who is a well known musician.

Counsel added that it was ACC’s intention to apply to have the proceedings admitted to the commercial Court, the big business division of the High Court.

In an affidavit to the court, solicitor Donnacha O’Donovan for ACC said he believed that Mr Corr was evading being served notice of the proceedings ACC intended to bring.

Mr O’Donovan said that a summons server attempted to serve Mr Corr with the proceedings on four separate dates in late July early August last without success.

Mr O’Donovan said that he also wrote to Mr Corr informing him of the proceedings and asked to meet with him in order to effect service of the proceedings on him.

Those letters were delivered to Mr Corr’s address by both ordinary and registered post. However earlier this month the registered letters were returned to Mr O’Donovan's office marked “Not Called for”. The letters sent by ordinary post were not returned.

Mr O’Donovan said that a solicitor’s firm acting for Mr Corr informed him that they were not in a position to accept service of the proceedings.

However Mr O’Donovan said that a caretaker at the apartment block where Mr Corr resides informed the summons server that the musician continues to reside there.

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Judge Denies 'Hurt Locker' Subpoenas

A federal magistrate judge in South Dakota has denied an attempt by the producers of the Oscar-winning film "The Hurt Locker" to obtain the identities of 143 accused illegal file sharers from their Internet service provider.

The judge's decision last week however likely means only a temporary delay for Voltage Pictures, the independent studio which made "The Hurt Locker."

Voltage is one of more than a dozen indie studios that have hired the Washington, D.C., law firm of Dunlap, Grubb & Weaver to file copyright complaints against as many as 50,000 individuals they accuse of illegally sharing their movies. To file the suits, the law firm first obtains Internet protocol addresses of people sharing files. Then, the firm goes after the identities of those who own the IP addresses by subpoenaing records from Internet service providers.

Last month, Midcontinent Communications said no to Voltage. The ISP, which services areas in South and North Dakota and Minnesota, filed a motion to "quash" the subpoena it received from Voltage requesting information on the Midcontinent customers. The ISP argued that Voltage and Dunlap had not followed proper federal procedure by filing the subpoena with jurisdiction in South Dakota.

On Wednesday, U.S. Magistrate Judge John Simko, for the Southern District of South Dakota, agreed with Midcontinent's argument and granted its motion.

But Thomas Dunlap, one of the attorneys representing Voltage, said today that the holdup was a procedural technicality and his firm plans to obtain a subpoena in South Dakota soon. He said typically an ISP and his firm will talk by phone to work out any issues but Dunlap said Midcontinent didn't do that.

"This seems like an expensive way for [Midcontinent] to handle it but the issue is pretty minor," Dunlap said. "We will reproduce the subpoena in South Dakota and we will end up getting the information."

The litigation that Dunlap, Grubb & Weaver is leading has stunned file sharers all over the country. The practice of filing lawsuits was thought to be dead after the music industry stopped filing such complaints nearly two years ago. Executives from a group of indie studios told CNET this month that they are without a lot of options when it comes to defending their material against piracy and unauthorized file sharing.

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Changes Come to Civil Proccess

With a goal of reducing the Citrus County Sheriff’s Office budget to the best of his abilities, Sheriff Jeff Dawsy is announcing changes in the way his agency will serve civil process, effective Oct. 1.

“Process” is commonly defined as a paper of writing issued by some court in the exercise of its jurisdiction. These documents include divorce papers, liens, restraining orders, evictions, subpoenas, plus other official court documents.

Up until now, deputy sheriffs typically served all enforceable as well as non-enforceable civil process on the intended recipients.

Enforceable civil process includes enforcement of child support, domestic violence injunctions for protection, child custody pickup orders, landlord/tenant actions and seizure of property relating to civil lawsuits. Non-enforceable process includes summonses, complaints and subpoenas.

A recent administrative order signed by Chief Judge Daniel B. Merritt, Sr., of the Fifth Judicial Circuit supplements the service of process by county sheriffs and provides an alternate means of service by private certified civil process servers. An approved list of certified process servers is maintained by the circuit, which includes Citrus, Hernando, Lake, Marion and Sumter counties.

These individuals are authorized to serve non-enforceable civil process on any person found within the circuit where the process server is certified whenever a civil action has been filed against said person in Florida’s circuit or county courts.

Here in Citrus County, sworn deputies will continue to serve all enforceable process, in addition to any court documents originating from the State Attorney’s and Public Defender’s offices and the Florida Department of Revenue.

Starting Oct. 1, private citizens or attorneys looking to have non-enforceable process served will need to contact a private process server. The approved list of civil process servers in the circuit who are currently certified is viewable on the Sheriff’s Office official Web site at www.sheriffcitrus.org.

Sheriff Dawsy is anticipating these changes will save his agency approximately $140,000. One added advantage is two or three of his civil deputies can be reassigned to positions that are currently vacant.

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Denver Police Department Charges Process Server After Car Hits Him

A Denver process server has been charged with misdemeanor criminal mischief after he was run over and badly injured by a woman he was trying to serve with divorce papers.

Richard Bellizzi, a private investigator and process server told CBS4, "I was in somewhat of a state of shock," after Denver police arrested him and not the driver of the car that hit him following the June 24 incident.

"And I said, 'Process server divorce papers," and she tried to kill me."

Bellizzi was trying to serve divorce papers to Dr. Oksana Bantley, an area anesthesiologist.

Bellizzi said Bantley had avoided another process server and appeared to be trying to avoid him. He spotted her June 24 driving a friend's car. Bellizzi followed her and when she got caught in traffic on Colorado Boulevard Bellizzi jumped out of his car and approached Bantley's car. He held the divorce papers in one hand and a camera in the other hand which recorded what happened next.

The videotape shows Bantley behind the wheel of her car. As Bellizzi stands near the front of her car, he can be heard saying, "Oksana Bantley ... Superior Court …" Bantley shields her face with her hands. But before Bellizzi finishes speaking, she can be seen apparently turning the wheel of her car toward Bellizzi and the car accelerates. The video shows Bellizzi on the hood of the speeding car for a few seconds before the tape cuts off.

"She turned the wheel and gunned the engine, effectively cutting my legs out and forcing me on to the hood of the car," Bellizzi said.

Bellizzi said he hung on for about 260 feet at an estimated 30 to 40 miles per hour before he said Bantley turned sharply, ejecting him from the hood of the car.

"This is not going to end well," Bellizzi remembered thinking as he held on to one of the car's windshield wipers. The incident left him with a broken left ankle and deep bruises and cuts. He hobbled back to his car and drove to the Denver Police Department's District 3 station to report what happened.

"I fully expected to sign a complaint and go to St. Joseph's Hospital and have my injuries attended to," he said.

But Bellizzi said he was immediately met with sarcasm, hostility and aggression by an officer manning the station's front desk. Frustrated by the officer's attitude, Bellizzi asked to speak to a supervisor. He provided Denver police with his videotape of what happened and information on how to track down Bantley, which police did, summoning her to the District 3 station. After several hours he said the same officer who greeted him with hostility and aggression handcuffed him and told him he was being arrested for harassment and criminal mischief.

"I knew I was in the right and not guilty of what they were saying. I knew I was a victim," Bellizzi said. "And I don't often feel I am a victim."

Bellizzi was transported by ambulance to Denver Health Medical Center for treatment and then on to the Denver Jail. He was released 24 hours later. The following day Bellizzi's lawyer, Jennifer Henslee, said she spoke to a sergeant from the Denver Police Department who "apologized for the treatment Mr. Bellizzi received, stated Mr. Bellizzi should never have been charged with a crime."

Henslee has sent a four-page letter to Denver Police Chief Gerry Whitman outlining what happened arguing that Bellizzi spent a night in jail "for no justifiable reason whatsoever." She complained of police conduct and wrote, "Given the facts of this incident, the overwhelming amount of evidence establishing at the very least probable cause that Mrs. Bantley committed several felony crimes, it is unbelievable that she has not been charged. The fact that your officers treated Mr. Bellizzi unfairly with hostility and disrespect is outrageous."



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C.A. Upholds Restraining Order Against Attorney

The Court of Appeal has upheld the imposition of an order enjoining Beverly Hills sole practitioner Martin B. Reiner from harassing Los Angeles attorney Susan Kaplan, who was his opposing counsel on a workers’ compensation matter last year.

Div. Three of this district’s Court of Appeal on Thursday rejected as “specious” Reiner’s claim that his conduct was constitutionally protected and chastised the attorney for engaging in behavior that “far exceeded the scope of civility.”

Kaplan, who did not return a call seeking comment, claimed that Reiner and a process server had come to the Graiwer & Kaplan office last September to serve her and her husband with subpoenas after gaining access to the private interior office area by pushing past a secretary as she exited a secured back door.

“Clearly, that laying in wait to commit the crime of trespass in a secured area shows he is capable of criminal activity and is willing to engage in criminal activity in order to intimidate me and others,” Kaplan alleged in her complaint.

She further asserted, under penalty of perjury, that a worker’s compensation judge had granted
a motion for protective order filed by Kaplan’s firm because of “unprofessional behavior during discovery matters,” and that a special master had been appointed to attend discovery to ensure Reiner controlled his behavior.

At the hearing on the motion, Kaplan said Reiner was “threatening” and had “invade[d] my space by getting right up in my face.”

Kaplan described Reiner as “unstable,” and “always agitated, almost as if he is under the influence of something.” He “uses profanity and makes all kinds of wild accusations and threatens our attorneys by stating that he is going to file complaints against them for assault,”

Kaplan said, adding that she was “convinced he will not stop this type of conduct unless he is prohibited from doing so.”

Reiner, however, on Friday reiterated his assertion, reflected in the opinion, that Kaplan’s version of events was “utterly fabricated.”

“Kaplan and her firm concocted false allegations against me…in an effort to try to throw a monkey wrench” in an ongoing workers’ compensation case in which his client is raising a claim of insurance fraud by Kaplan and her firm as an affirmative defense, Reiner claimed.

“There is an animus that exists and drives the present matter,” he insisted.
Reiner had also denied the factual assertions in Kaplan’s complaint at trial, where he represented himself, before Los Angeles Superior Court Judge David S. Cunningham III.

According to Reiner’s version of events, Kaplan had noticed a deposition at her offices, and an employee had held the rear door to the offices open for Reiner and the process server to enter. He stated that he had been in Kaplan’s office less than 60 seconds, and that “there was no violence, nor threat of violence, nor profanity, nor confrontation.”

After the hearing, Cunningham granted the restraining order prohibiting Reiner from being within 100 yards of Kaplan, her home, and her vehicle, but did not check off the box that would prohibit Reiner from being within 100 yards of Kaplan’s job or workplace. The order remains in effect until Oct. 8, 2012.

Writing for the appellate court, Justice Richard D. Aldrich noted that some of the alleged instances of harassment occurred in a courthouse during pending litigation, but he explained this was insufficient to protect Reiner’s conduct.

The justice opined that an attorney’s free speech rights are circumscribed during judicial proceedings by his obligation to maintain respect for the court, emphasizing that Reiner’s conduct—following Kaplan around the courthouse, yelling, using profanities, and threatening opposing counsel—was “[b]y no stretch of the imagination…courteous or even civil.”
Aldrich also brushed aside Reiner’s contention that the trial court proceedings had not been fair since he was denied the opportunity to testify.


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Brown to Serve Subpoena on Vernon in Broadened Probe of City Officials' High Salaries

The state attorney general's office announced Wednesday it will serve a subpoena on the city of Vernon, as part of an expanded probe of city salaries and expenses.

The subpoena will seek compensation records for Vernon employees and city officials, state Attorney General Jerry brown said in a statement.

A former Vernon city administrator who now serves as a legal consultant has topped the $1-million mark for each of the last four years, records show.

Eric T. Fresch was paid nearly $1.65 million in salary and hourly billings in 2008, when he held the dual jobs of city administrator and deputy city attorney, according to documents obtained by The Times through the California Public Records Act.

Fresch, described by city officials as an experienced finance attorney, was paid nearly $1.2 million last year, records show. Through July 31 of this year, he has earned about $643,000 as "outside legal counsel."

Other highly compensated employees include Donal O'Callaghan, who was paid nearly $785,000 last year as city administrator and director of Light & Power, overseeing Vernon's city-owned utility. He now earns $384,000 a year overseeing capital projects for the utility after stepping down July 20 as city administrator.

Former City Atty. Jeffrey A. Harrison earned $800,000 last year, and City Treasurer/Finance Director Roirdan Burnett made $570,000, records show. The year before, Harrison was paid $1.04 million. Although Vernon and Bell share a border in southeastern Los Angeles County, they are very different cities. Bell is a working-class, largely immigrant city with 38,000 residents. Vernon has fewer than 100 residents and is largely a business and industrial hub.

Top administrators in Vernon also racked up hundreds of thousands of dollars in city-paid expenses on first-class flights, luxury hotels like the Ritz-Carlton and limousine service, according to a records review by The Times.

The records, which cover 2005-2010, detail lavish travel expenses billed to the city by its top executives, including then-city administrators Fresch and Donal O'Callaghan.

Some of the trips occurred as recently as this year, when the city laid off employees and canceled the life and health insurance benefits of city workers' spouses and children because of budget problems.

In one short trip to New York in February 2007, O'Callaghan, Fresch and a financial advisor flew first class to New York for a combined cost of more than $12,700.

O'Callaghan and the financial advisor, Craig Underwood, each stayed one night at the Ritz-Carlton, paying a nightly rate of about $800. Fresch, who stayed four nights, spent more than $7,600 at the Ritz-Carlton.

The bill included services from Paris Limo totaling $2,251 for four separate days. The city also reimbursed Fresch for $485 he spent dining at the Four Seasons New York.

The records show Fresch routinely commuted from his home in the San Francisco Bay Area to L.A. first class for more than $931 per round trip. In a few instances, he spent more than $1,100 for the relatively short air commute. He also incurred a bill of $350 at the United Red Carpet Airport Club, according to one city invoice.

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'Ground Zero Imam' Evades Being Served with Complaint -- Later is Legally Served for Nuisance, Emotional Distress, Assault

NEW YORK, Sept. 15 /Standard Newswire/ -- Larry Klayman, founder of Judicial Watch and Freedom Watch, announced yesterday that the "Ground Zero Imam" and his mosque, the Cordoba House/Park51 Project, were served with the class action complaint filed by First Responder Vincent Forras. The complaint alleges that the building of the planned mosque would be a legal nuisance and that the entire project, to be built in the immediate vicinity of Ground Zero, is a blatant attempt to inflict emotional distress on the inhabitants of New York City; in effect a form of psychological terrorism.

Both the Imam and the mosque have ties to terrorist interests, and a large donor to the Imam's enterprises gave handsomely to the Holy Land Foundation, a convicted terrorist front group. In addition, during an interview on CNN's "Larry King Live" the Imam refused to say where the money was coming from to build the mosque at Ground Zero. There is other considerable evidence connecting the "Ground Zero Imam" and his mosque to persons and entities associated with terrorism.

When Freedom Watch, plaintiffs' counsel, sought to have the complaint served personally upon the defendants, including the Imam, servers were prevented from giving it to them. In this regard, plaintiffs sought to serve the Imam after his speech yesterday at the Council for Foreign Relations in New York City.

Service of process was however made under alternative legal means.

Larry Klayman issued the following statement to the Imam:

"In this country, it is important to obey the law. If the Imam is innocent of the charges, he should have willingly accepted service of the complaint. However, instead he chose to 'run' from the process server. The Imam can try to run but we will not allow him to hide. Justice will be done under the American legal system, not Sharia law. The case is now on its way to achieving justice for the plaintiffs and all of the people of the City of New York."

The class action suit has been brought at the behest of Declaration Alliance, with Freedom Watch, in the Supreme Court of New York in Manhattan, on behalf of Lead Plaintiff Vincent Forras, a courageous First Responder severely injured during his efforts to save innocent lives during September 11, 2001.



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Armed Process Server Threatens Teen

BREA — An argument between a process server and a 17-year old boy is being investigated after the process server is alleged to have pointed a gun at the juvenile, police said.

Process servers typically deliver legal documents to individuals involved in court cases, Sgt. Bill Smyser said.

The argument took place 8:30 p.m. Saturday in the Hollydale Mobile Home Park on Carbon Canyon Road, when the agent was serving papers at a residence there, Smyser.

The process server, who was not a law enforcement official, pointed a handgun at the juvenile and then left. The juvenile called police, Symser said.

Police don't yet know why the agent was serving papers at the location.

"Nobody is in custody at this point," Smyser said. "They are working on it and trying to put the pieces together... I don't know if the papers were ever served or whether he was trying to serve the owner."


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'Subpoena GMA to clarify Saliao testimony'

MANILA, Philippines - The “smoking gun” testimony of a witness before the Quezon City Regional Trial Court on Wednesday further strengthened calls to subpoena President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to clarify her relationship with the Ampatuan family.

In an interview with radio DZMM, lawyer Harry Roque, Jr. said the families of the victims would want to be clarified of Arroyo’s links to the Maguindanao massacre case.

Lakmudin Saliao, a former trusted aide of the Ampatuan family, revealed that former Maguindanao Governor Andal Ampatuan, Jr. only agreed to surrender his son and namesake to authorities after getting assurances he will be put “under the care” of the then president.

The landmark trial began on Wednesday (September 8), with the prosecution team presenting Saliao as its first witness.

Saliao directly linked Andal Jr. to the planning and execution of the killings last November 23, 2009.

Roque, a private prosecutor representing the families of several of the victims, said: “Bakit sasabihin ng mga Ampatuan ang ganitong mga bagay na seryosong-seryoso? Lumalabas na presidente pa ang gumawa ng paraan para mabaluktot ang mga batas at criminal case procedures.”

(Why would the Ampatuans say something serious as that? It appears that the president herself was willing to bend the laws.)

He said the families have already asked Branch 221 Judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes during the pre-trial to subpoena the former president as a “hostile witness.”

Immunity

Roque, however, fears that Arroyo may invoke her immunity to escape responsibility.

In case the court does call for Arroyo, a legal issue may arise, he said.

As the Pampanga 2nd District Representative, Arroyo has parliamentary immunity from arrest, he explained.

“Legal issue ito e, nakaupo na siya sa Kongreso,” Roque said.

He said it would be best however if she testifies in order to debunk rumors that she did have a different relationship with the Ampatuans, albeit suspect.

Saliao testimony strong

He dismissed the defense team’s accusations that Saliao’s testimony was “well-rehearsed.”

He said Saliao would not testify, under oath, if his story is a mere lie.

“Kahit gaano ka ka-loyal, mahirap sikmurain yung nangyari,” he said.

Roque said there are other witnesses who would corroborate Saliao’s statements.

Meanwhile, the lawyer asked public prosecutors to file a petition before the Supreme Court to make Solis-Reyes’ court a special court in order to hasten the procedures.

This way, Solis Reyes will only focus on this one particular case, he said.

It is expected that the trial will take years.

Both the prosecution and defense want to present some 500 witnesses, combined.

Saliao will again take the witness stand on September 15. He will also be cross-examined by the defense team.




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Douglas Bruce Not In Contempt But Must Testify

DENVER (AP) ― A judge ruled Tuesday that anti-tax activist Douglas Bruce won't be held in contempt of court for not testifying in a lawsuit about tax-cutting ballot measures, but he will have to answer questions about them.

Denver District Judge Brian Whitney rejected the Colorado attorney general's request to hold Bruce in contempt after state officials tried and repeatedly failed to serve him with a subpoena.

Government lawyers argued that the author of Colorado's Taxpayer's Bill of Rights illegally avoided answering questions about three proposals on the November ballot. Bruce has said he has nothing to do with those measures and was out of state when state officials tried to subpoena him.

Bruce wrote a 1992 constitutional amendment that limits government spending and taxing in Colorado.

Although he wasn't found in contempt of court, Bruce was ordered to appear for a deposition within three weeks to answer questions about his involvement with the initiatives: Amendments 60 and 61 and Proposition 101.

The Denver Post reports that Bruce's attorney, David Lane, said his client will likely fight any attempt to make him testify about his stances on the measures. Lane said inquiring about those activities would violate Bruce's First Amendment right to associate politically with whom he pleases.

"Douglas Bruce is not obligated to set forth any of his political beliefs," Lane said after the court hearing. "His life doesn't become an open book."

The secretary of state's office wanted Bruce to testify earlier this year in an administrative case looking into who is financing the three ballot measures. The initiatives would limit the ability of local and state governments to borrow and spend money.

A Colorado administrative court ruled in June that Bruce helped get the proposals on the ballot and that three other people involved should have disclosed their contributions. Those three people were fined $2,000 each for not reporting their contributions but Bruce wasn't.


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UNC DT Marvin Austin Hit With Subpoena

As UNC football recovers from a thrilling but disappointing debut against LSU and prepares for the upcoming showdown with Georgia Tech, defensive tackle Marvin Austin continues to come under scrutiny for his contact with agents.

Investigators from the office of N.C. Secretary of State Elaine Marshall subpoenaed Austin last week as part of their investigation into the sports agents around the program and potential violations of state laws governing agents. Marshall’s office has not commented other than to say that the investigation is ongoing.

Austin was indefinitely suspended from the UNC football team last week for an unspecified violation of team rules. In a press release from the football program, head coach Butch Davis said that Austin had “neglected his responsibilities to the team.”

The press release stressed that the suspension was not linked to the NCAA investigations into the football program.




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Process Server Undone by Bing Security's Pick and Roll

They say close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades.

And it certainly doesn't matter when you are trying to serve Mayor Dave Bing with a lawsuit.

Christian Pomroy, the owner of At Your Service Document Delivery, told the City Hall Insider that, after two months of trying to serve Bing a lawsuit from a jilted Bing Group supplier he got close enough today to touch Bing. It happened outside the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center on the Randolph side where city officials park.

"I told him, 'Mayor Bing, I am a big fan,' and then I shook his hand," said Pomroy, who then told Bing his name and asked if he could take the lawsuit.

"No, not at this time," Bing replied, according to Pomroy, before security shooed him away in a nifty moving screen that would have made Bing's Piston teammates proud.

Pomroy has tried multiple times at City Hall and the Bing Group's former offices to serve the lawsuit from Parts Finishing Group in Auburn Hills, which sued July 13 alleging nearly $37,000 in unpaid bills.

"I should have just dropped it on him," Pomroy said of the missed opportunity.

But that may have been unwise. Bing's security officers are sure to have a short fuse after one of their vehicles this week was found up on four blocks minus the tires.


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FTC Subpoenas 48 Food Companies Regarding Marketing to Kids

NEW YORK -- The Federal Trade Commission is once again handing out subpoenas to companies who market food to children and teens.

Three years after initially delivering what is technically known as "orders to file special report" to 44 marketers, the FTC last week began sending subpoenas to 48 companies in order to prepare a follow-up to its 120-page report issued in 2008, "Marketing Food to Children and Adolescents: A Review of Industry Expenditures, Activities and Self-Regulation."

"This is a follow-up to measure the effects that self-regulation has had over the last three years," said Carol Jennings, spokeswoman for the FTC's Division of Advertising Practices/Bureau of Consumer Protection. "We are supportive of industry voluntary efforts to limit their marketing to kids and this will see whether more is needed."

Ms. Jennings said the findings will be made available to the public.

A handful of marketers that received subpoenas in 2007 were left off the 2010 list, presumably because they have limited their marketing to children. Twelve companies on this year's list are new, but 36 companies are once again receiving subpoenas -- including Yum Brands, which was called out by FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz in a December 2009 speech in which he said, "Many companies that market heavily to children and teens have yet to join or make a commitment. Why, for instance, hasn't Yum Brands, with its KFC, Taco Bell, and Pizza Hut chains, stepped up? Or Chuck E. Cheese and IHOP? Or the marketers of Air Heads and Baby Bottle Pops?"

Calls to Yum Brands were not returned. A spokeswoman for CEC Entertainment Inc., parent company of Chuck E. Cheese, said she could not comment without having seen the subpoena.

Some have speculated that the new round of subpoenas was a prelude to Congressional hearings and possible legislation, but Ms. Jennings refuted that.

"We are not proposing any regulation," she said.

Anthony DiResta, an attorney specializing in advertising, marketing and media at the Washington, D.C.-based firm Manatt Phelps & Phillip, agreed with Ms. Jennings and said he did not see legislation in the future.

"Given the current political climate and the way the polls are suggesting Congress may change after November, I don't see it happening," he said. "In order for Congress to hold hearings or empower the FTC to do anything close to rule-making, that would require a very, very progressive and activist legislative effort. I just don't think right now that's in the winds."

But Mr. DiResta, a former director of the FTC's Southeast Regional Office, did say that marketing food products to children very much remains on the FTC's radar.



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