You've Been Served - Without Ever Leaving Your Computer

When most people think of being served with legal documents, they picture the process server knocking at the door, literally the bearer of bad news.

Popular culture has perpetuated the image of the process server as someone who resorts to trickery and even disguises in order to catch their elusive prey - those who are desperately hoping to evade being served with, say, divorce papers or a summons announcing that they've been sued for millions of dollars.

But in today's digital age, emerging media may be making it easier to reach out and serve someone.

In December 2008, the Australian Capital Territory Supreme Court approved the use of popular social networking site Facebook to serve a Canberra couple with notice that they were losing their home after defaulting on a loan.

Read more here.

Reform of Fruadulent Process Service in NYC Addressed by Council Member Garodnick

Although this news is not breaking news, we thought it an appropriate video to post in an effort to continue to bring awareness to the process serving industry. Ethical behavior should be at the forefront of every business, especially ours. Please feel free to post comments about the content and the direction in which legislation is moving.



Watch video on youtube.com here.

Britney's Ex Faces a Year in Jail for Running Over Process Server

Britney's Spears' ex boyfriend Adnan Ghalib, pled no contest to leaving the scene of an accident in court Friday.


The ex paparazzo allegedly ran over a process server back in February with his Mercedes.
The process server, Ram Moskowitz, was trying to serve Ghalib with a restraining order to stay away from Britney. To avoid being pinned against a trash truck Moskowitz jumped on the hood of the Mercedes before falling off and breaking his wrist.

Read more here.

Newark court OK's subpoenas for billionaire's fortune

A Superior Court judge in Newark has refused to block subpoenas requiring relatives of one of the world’s wealthiest men to provide information about the companies that formed his empire.

In the ongoing family dispute over Yung-Ching Wang’s fortune, Judge Walter Koprowski Jr. on Friday rejected a request by Wang’s daughter, Susan Wang, to dismiss the lawsuit, said Jennifer Berkowitz, a spokesman for Y.C. Wang’s eldest son, Winston Wen-Young Wong. Koprowski also ordered the billionaire’s companies controlled by her to reveal his assets in New Jersey at or near the time of his death, Berkowitz said

Wang, founder of Formosa Plastics Group, died in October 2008 without a will, leaving his nine children fighting over his fortune estimated at more than $8 billion. Formosa’s U.S. headquarters is in Livingston.

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Twitter Used to Serve Papers

In what was no doubt the first ever 140-character legal document, the British High Court has served an anonymous web-pest an injunction via Twitter. This is the first time the microblogging service has been used to execute a court order.
The Court issued an injunction against an unknown Twitter member who used the name and likeness of a law firm owner (poor choice of victim) to spread conservative messages. The Court decided that the user had unlawfully impersonated the lawyer, one Donal Blaney, and that since the defendant was unknown, Twitter would be the best way to notify the criminal.

Read more here.

Detroit Mayor Kilpatrick Issued Subpoenas for Financial Records

Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy issued subpoenas today for all of former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick’s bank and financial records, the records of his wife, Carlita, as well as those of anyone else holding anything on their behalf.

Also being sought in a separate subpoena are Kilpatrick’s payroll, travel allowance, loans, gifts and other payments from Compuware. The subpoena also seeks information on payments to anyone else on Kilpatrick’s behalf.

Kilpatrick was hired by Covisint, a Compuware subsidiary, as a sales representative after his release from jail on obstruction of justice charges. Kilpatrick moved to a gated community in Southlake, a posh suburb of Dallas.

Kilpatrick has been slow in paying court-ordered restitution stemming from his criminal prosecution by Worthy’s office.

Read more here.

Process Server Sues Police

A private process server filed suit Tuesday saying police refused to intervene when a business' security guards would not let him serve garnishment papers on an employee.

Charles Fineberg says in the Circuit Court suit that civil private process servers have the same power as sheriff's deputies, who also serve civil process and court orders and that it is a criminal offense for anyone to prevent a process server from serving papers.

In incidents in June and July, the suit says, Fineberg was denied access to the Nike plant by security personnel from Guardsmark and police told him they were advised from "on high" not to get involved in the matter.

Read more here.

Old Dominion University Served Papers

Old Dominion University has been served legal papers in a criminal investigation of the school's aborted $40,000-a-year contract with state Del. Phil Hamilton.
That acknowledgment came from ODU this week in response to a Freedom of Information Act request from The Virginian-Pilot.
The university said it has received three documents related to the Hamilton matter but declined to identify them in detail or provide copies. Two are being withheld because they relate to a criminal investigation and the third pursuant to a court order prohibiting its disclosure.

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Process Server Serves Federal Prisoner for State Farm

GULFPORT — Federal inmate Clifton Clark describes himself as a chronically ill 78-year-old with hepatitis C and “a lower back like jelly.”

The former Biloxian has been imprisoned since 1990 because he led a theft ring that chopped up stolen vehicles, then used the parts on wrecked cars for resell at a profit.

So, imagine Clark’s surprise when insurance behemoth State Farm sued him for carelessly causing a house to catch fire in November 2003 while his alleged company was in the process of moving it.

Clark was considered legally notified of the lawsuit in July 2006. A process server said he left the paperwork at Clark’s “usual place of abode” in Wiggins. Because Clark did not initially respond to the lawsuit, State Farm filed a motion for judgement in the company’s favor.

Read more here.

Process Server Serves Papers to 72 Year Old Woman Who is Being Sued By Her Favorite Football Team

It’s almost time for that annual rite of Fall — the kickoff of the NFL season. Only this year, quite a few season ticket holders will be sitting at home with a lawsuit in their lap instead of a set of pom-poms.

The Washington Post has a compelling story about Redskins’ season ticket holders who’ve asked out of their multi-year contracts because of financial hardship. Instead of that happening, many of them have been sued by the team. The list includes Pat Hill, about as diehard a Redskins fan as they come:

Read more here.

Britney Spears' Ex-Boyfriend Pleads Not Guilty to Assaulting a Process Server

BRITNEY SPEARS’ ex-boyfriend, paparazzo ADNAN GHALIB, has pleaded not guilty to assaulting a process server.


Ghalib is accused of running over Ram Moskowitz as he tried to hand the photographer legal papers as part of the Toxic superstar’s conservatorship case in 2008.

Read more here.

Process Server Knocked Out While Trying to Deliver Speed-Camera Ticket

A process server delivering a speed-camera ticket in Gilbert was punched so hard, he was knocked out, according to an article today by Channel 15 (KNXV-TV).

The process server dropped off his paperwork for the woman in the speed-camera photo and was suddenly cold-cocked by the woman's husband. The punch knocked out the server, the article says. Denny Dobbins, a lawyer for the process-serving company, AAA Photo Safety, had this to say to Channel 15:

Read more here.

Bill Regarding Service of Process

Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D) of Rhode Island has introduced a bill that would require foreign companies that import goods into the United States to designate registered agents in the U.S. that are authorized to accept service of process on behalf of the manufacturer.

Read the text of the bill here.

Celebrity photographer faces lawsuit over $24 million rennovation

A legal row has broken out over the renovations of two historic properties in New York owned by international celebrity photographer Annie Leibovitz.

A company that lent the photographer $24 million to renovate the 19th century red brick, vine covered buildings has filed a law suit claiming she is in breach of contract.

Art Capital claims that the loan was backed by the negatives and intellectual property rights to every photograph Leibovitz has ever taken, and by property she owns.

Read more here.

Belize Accedes to Hague Convention

Belize has become the most recent country to join the Hague Convention, affecting international service of process.

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Process Server Falsifies 200 Affidavits

The case of a Hennepin County process server who allegedly falsified multiple affidavits of service has created a tremendous amount of work for the District Court and for the three law firms that used him to serve debtors with summonses and complaints.

Read more here.

Adnana Ghalib Back in Court for Hitting Process Server

Britney Spears former paparazzo boyfriend Adnan Ghalib was back in a Los Angeles court Wednesday to answer charges that he ran over a process server with his Mercedes.

Read more here.

New York AG Sues to Overturn Default Judgments

New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo is going to court to try to overturn about 100,000 default judgments he claims were improperly obtained against consumers — including more than 6,000 in Orange, Sullivan and Ulster counties.

The lawsuit, filed this week in state Supreme Court in Erie County, names as defendants 35 law firms and two debt collection agencies who relied on a Long Island company, American Legal Process, to notify consumers they faced debt-related lawsuits.

Read more here.

Illegal Download Site Pirate Bay Gets Served Via Facebook, Twitter

Never let it be said that the music industry is completely clueless about the digital world; the Dutch antipiracy outfit Brein, perhaps realizing that the medium may be more important than the message a lot of the time these days, has notified the founders of the BitTerrorist haven Pirate Bay that they’re due in court not through a process server, but via Facebook and Twitter.

Read more here.

AZ Couple Allegedly Points Shotgun at Process Server

Sheriff's deputies questioned a Prescott couple after a woman allegedly pointed a shotgun at a process server Thursday.

According to Yavapai County Sheriff's spokesman Dwight D'Evelyn, the official went to the home on L Bar L Road to serve foreclosure papers to the homeowner.

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Whitler Receives Life + 48 Years for Killing CO Process Server

James Whitler knew before his sentencing hearing Monday he'd be spending the rest of his life in prison for murdering Stephen Allen, but Judge Dan Kaup made sure the Loveland father's violent actions toward his children also carried significance through punishment.

The judge sentenced Whitler to an additional 48 years in prison to be served consecutively to the murder sentence for trying to strangle his children to death May 28, 2008.

Read more here.

Million Dollar Connecticut Marshal

John T. Fiorillo is the million-dollar marshal.

Boosted by his ties to the state's two major foreclosure firms, Fiorillo, a Hartford County marshal, reported a net income of more than $1 million for delivering court papers in 2008, according to disclosure forms filed with the Office of State Ethics.

Law firms paid Fiorillo more than $3 million to serve legal papers last year. But he reported spending nearly two-thirds of that on employee and office expenses, leaving him with a bottom line of $1,119,706. Fiorillo's take was more than double the next-highest-earning marshal.

Read more here.

Court Case With Unserved Summons in MN

Imagine opening up the mail and finding out you're in default—a judge issuing a judgment against you that could lead to your financial ruin.

It’s happened to up to 200 people in Hennepin County, all by mistake. Authorities say one man is to blame and he could go to prison.

Angus Mceachern, 23, had one key job: Serve people with papers saying they're being sued for owing money. But investigators say he never did that and now 1,000 cases are under review.

Read more here.

Britney's Ex to Stand Trial for Hitting Process Server with Car

While he's out of Britney Spears' (non pink) hair these days, paparazzo Adnan Ghalib is still finding ways to stir up trouble. Brit's sometime ex-boyfriend will appear for a preliminary hearing May 18 to set a trial date in the case involving a process server he allegedly hit with his car, TMZ reports.

Read more here.

Man Who Killed Process Server Testifies

Jurors in James Whitler's murder trial saw a video recording Tuesday of Whitler telling authorities he began beating Stephen Allen, the man he's accused of murdering, after he came to view the process server as the object of his marriage's lost hope.

Whitler also told investigators he was praying to God to take care of his two children while he strangled them after beating Allen.

If sheriff's deputies hadn't stopped him, he said he probably would have killed his children and then himself.

Read more here.