City Ordered to Serve Notice to Protestors

The city's bid for arrest warrants for Six Nations protesters was put off again, after a superior court justice decided alternate measures should be tried first.

The city is attempting to have eight protesters found in contempt of court for breaching an injunction prohibiting protests at development sites in the city.

Justice Harrison Arrell said he was concerned that the men could face criminal charges if they were served with warrants and failed to appear in court.

The city's motion asks the court to fine or jail those who are found to have violated the motion and award the city punitive damages.

City lawyer Neal Smitheman said they had successfully served Steve (Boots) Powless and John Garlow. He said Dick Hill refused to accept the court documents, but is aware of the city's motion.

The other protesters named in the action -- Butch Thomas, Clyde Powless, Kevin (Whodat) Isaacs, Dwayne Maracle and Runs Through the Fire -- have not been served.

City Hires Private Process Servers to Serve Property Owners

Issuing citations for city code violations is just the first — maybe the easiest — step in trying to persuade residents to clean up and maintain their property.

But serving notice of the citation and the alleged violations officers hope residents will cure before ending up in municipal court has proven to be much more difficult.

During the past eight to 12 months, city officials have been unable to secure the service of 522 citations issued for violations ranging from overgrown yards to maintenance neglect.

City officials say that lack of service can be costly to taxpayers not only aesthetically, but financially as well. In an attempt to “close the loophole” that allows residents to elude responsibilities, officials want to test a pilot program that will allow the city to use a private process server to put property owners on notice of any violations.

City Planner Gary Garvin said code enforcement officers are charged with that responsibility right now. Because code enforcement officers work regular business hours, it is difficult to serve notice to residents who work outside the home.

A process server, Garvin said, not only has the means to secure service during the evenings and weekends, they have the authority to serve notice to property owners who live outside the city limits but within the state. Garvin said 124 of the 522 citations, nearly 24 percent, expected to be included in the proposed pilot program are designated for out-of-town service.

Justice of Peace Signs Up for E-Filing

A Williamson County justice of the peace is hoping to make the process of filing a civil case less time-consuming and save paper at the same time.

Dain Johnson of Precinct 1 is the first justice of the peace in the county to begin using the new filing method, which allows attorneys to go online to file cases seeking up to $10,000.

Johnson said there are a lot of benefits to using the new system. When documents are due, lawyers can file them until midnight. Previously, they had to wait in lines at the courthouse, and they had to go during business hours. Johnson said lawyers can also avoid sending couriers or mailing heavy boxes that could be expensive.

Once a file is entered, court clerks can access it online. The system went online this month.

Forclosure Economy Still Keeping Process Servers Busy

The crumbling housing market is bad news for homeowners who overextended themselves during the boom, but it's good news for some lawyers and associated businesses.

Law firms representing lenders, condo associations and, to a lesser extent, homeowners, have been extremely busy with foreclosure cases over the last few months.

Attorneys aren't the only ones who have been busy with foreclosure cases. Process servers, the people who go out and hand-deliver notices of foreclosures and other lawsuits, also have been swamped.

In the last year and a half, the Gissen & Zawyer service firm, for instance, has roughly doubled in size. The company had about 15 process servers 18 months ago, but now it has about 30, said co-owner Sean Zawyer.

Process Server Alerts Police of Possible Meth Lab

Police and firefighters were trying to determine Friday evening if a home in a quiet suburban neighborhood was being used to make potentially explosive methamphetamine.

Firefighters were called to the house on Lasalle Avenue near Belsay and Lapeer Roads about 4:30 p.m. after a process server, who was evicting someone at the home, called 911 to report hazardous materials in the basement and in a white cube truck parked in the driveway.

Among the chemicals were anhydrous ammonia and ether, chemicals used in the production of methamphetamine.

"If something were to ignite, we'd have a big explosion," said Deputy Burton Fire Chief Ken Gould.

Rugby Player Denies Being Served

Sonny Bill Williams insists he hasn't been served with any legal documents relating to the court case against him - but after making a successful rugby union debut in France, he remains defiant about threats to seize his assets or even jail him.

Williams, who declared in Saturday's Herald that he was willing to go to jail if necessary over his desire to switch codes, said he felt the same way about the possibility of losing his $1.3 million house at Caringbah after the NSW Supreme Court ruled he could not play for anyone other than the Bulldogs until 2013.

"Like I said before the game, if they think that I should go to jail for doing what I believe in or if they want to take my house, take my car or take whatever for standing up for what I believe in, then so be it," he told the Herald . "I stand by whatever I've done and to me there are bigger things going on in the world today. They [the NRL] should be more worried about what's going on with the game itself than me."

Asked about claims he had been served with legal papers advising of the court injunction after his match for Toulon, Williams said he had not received any court documents.

Process Server Served

A civil trial gets underway today in Arapahoe County District Court in which a man says he was severely beaten by a Denver process server who was not charged in the assault.

Ken Bernstein is suing the Denver process-server company, Checkmate Inc., for hiring Anthony Davis, a convicted felon.

According to the lawsuit, on Sept. 30, 2005, Davis was serving Bernstein with a civil subpoena and after serving it, Davis, now 39, refused to leave.

System Designed to Save Kids Works to Perfection

When 18-month-old Kenyon Brock was pulled safely from a car in Jefferson City on Tuesday, it was just four hours after he had been taken from his crib.

The Amber Alert system had worked exactly as it was designed. Moments after a Jefferson City radio station aired the alert, a motorist spotted the suspect's car and the alleged abductors were in police custody 40 minutes later.

A Jefferson City man and a Kansas City area woman have been charged in the case.

Officials said locating an abducted child within the first three hours is crucial to the child's recovery - and Amber Alerts can help speed that recovery.

Amber Alerts are voluntary programs among law enforcement and transportation agencies, news media outlets and wireless providers to inform the public about an abducted child.

When a child abduction is reported to a local law enforcement agency, that agency contacts the Missouri Highway Patrol to determine whether the case fits the criteria for an Amber Alert.

Nasser Avoids Official at Mundine Fight

A legal fight over runaway rugby league star Sonny Bill Williams turned into a farce at a boxing event in Newcastle, The Daily Telegraph newspaper reports.

The private investigator who tried to serve controversial adviser Khoder Nasser his court papers required police protection at the Anthony Mundine fight at the Newcastle Entertainment Centre, the Sydney newspaper says.

The newspaper published a photo on Thursday of the investigator but covered his face at the man's request for his own safety.

The investigator who needed protection from two police officers at the fight, told The Daily Telegraph: "I was only trying to do my job, but at the end of the day it was just too dangerous.

Process Server Doesn't Mind Bearing Bad News

Probably the man will always regret that stop at a traffic light. That's where Jason Swanson served the man with a judicial summons over money he owed.

Swanson is a process server in Pinellas, Pasco and Hernando counties and will expand to Hillsborough County in a few months. He has been notifying Pinellas residents of their involvement in legal proceedings for 15 years.

His job is to give legal notice to people of a court's jurisdiction over legal matters in which they are involved. That protects them from any surprise legal actions of which they were not aware.

Most of his clients, however, see his service not as protection but as bad news – although Swanson wryly noted, he has discovered some people feel being served with divorce papers is a blessing. Many of Swanson's cases involve matters such as credit card debt, eviction or foreclosure.

Detroit Mayor Confronted Process Server

Michigan State Police will investigate a confrontation involving Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and a process server attempting to serve a subpoena on one of his close friends, the Wayne County sheriff said Thursday.

The process server from the county prosecutor's office, accompanied by a sheriff's deputy, had gone to the home of Kilpatrick's sister, Ayanna, and her husband, Daniel Ferguson, to deliver the subpoena to Daniel Ferguson's cousin, businessman Bobby Ferguson, Sheriff Warren Evans said.

"Mayor Kilpatrick exited the house," Evans said during an evening news conference. "The (sheriff's) officer alleges the mayor pushed him with significant force to make him bump into the prosecutor's investigator."

James Thomas, one of Kilpatrick's lawyers, said the process server asked several questions of Daniel Ferguson. The mayor told the process server that Bobby Ferguson did not live there and twice asked the man to leave, then "gently escorted" him off the porch when he did not.

Ignore Photo Radar Ticket, Pay Additional FIne

The Prescott Valley Police Department implemented photo enforcement a year and a half ago to reduce speeding - and accidents.

Despite extensive media coverage, some motorists who receive tickets are uninformed, and are facing the consequences. They face a $26 process server fee - even if they attend traffic school - if they did not notify the Magistrate Court of their intentions after receiving a ticket in the mail.

The company that operates the photo-enforcement equipment, Redflex Traffic Systems of Scottsdale, hires process servers.

Bad News Is Good News For Them

No one is ever happy to get a visit from process server Tammie Culligan.

"It's always a challenge, it's definitely a challenge," she said.

Tammie spends her busy day serving people with a notice to appear in court. She says foreclosures and short sales are through the roof in Hillsborough County.

It seems, these days, business is good for those in the business of delivering bad news.

Man With Shotgun Allegedly Confronts Debt Process Server

A 47-year-old Battle Ground man went to jail Monday evening after he allegedly fired a shotgun near a process server who came to present legal papers about a debt.

Max Berry was arrested on suspicion of felony first-degree assault at the home of his mother, Ruth Berry, at 9406 N.E. 219th St., said Sgt. Mike McCabe with the Clark County Sheriff’s Office.

The process server called 911 at 7:52 p.m., saying he arrived with the papers and Max Berry had fired a shotgun. The server had retreated across the street.

Berry had fired the shotgun near the server, toward a tree stump near busy 219th Street, to get the server to leave the property, McCabe said. No one was injured in the blast.

Judge Dismisses Appeal to Strike Out Poll Petition

Mr. Walter Nyambati Osebe filed an application on February 11, seeking to strike out a petition challenging his election last December as MP for Kitutu Masaba.

Mr Mose Nyambega, a city lawyer and one of the 33 candidates who contested the seat, filed the petition on January 22.

Osebe’s application to cancel the petition was based on two grounds: That he had not been served with the petition and that the petitioner had not complied with the law regarding service of election petitions.

ProVest Opens Maryland Office to Navigate New Foreclosure Laws

Process server management platform ProVest announced Monday that the company has opened a new office in Maryland that will help local attorneys and servicers meet the demands of new state legislation that requires private process servers to personally deliver a notice of foreclosure to homeowners in default before the process begins.

Process Servers in Demand Due to Economic Conditions

Due to the current economic conditions, there has been a rise in litigation, foreclosures and collections - all which has increased the demand for process servers. In wake of this demand, ServeNow.com is proud to announce that it acquired ProcessServers.com. The acquisition will strengthen ServeNow.com's ability to help legal professionals find local, pre-screened process serving professionals throughout the United States and Canada.

"This is an exciting milestone for our company," said Mike MacDonald, ServeNow.com Brand Manager. "We're now able to offer process servers the opportunity to reach more of their potential clients, and legal professionals an additional place to find local, pre-screened process servers."

Note To Criminals: The Ceiling? Not A Good Hangout

If you're going to try to hideout from the police, a closet is good. Under the bed might not be a bad way to go. Maybe even under some blankets in the basement. But note: the ceiling is probably not a good idea.

Especially if it can't support your weight. Getting the picture? Yup.

About 6 p.m. Friday, a civilian process server went to the home to serve Pereyra an eviction notice, police said. The server flagged down police who were in the neighborhood, but Pereyra allegedly ignored their commands to come out of the house, police said.

Surprise! You've Been Served, Mr Mayor

For the first time in the history of the City of Ryde, a subpoena was served on the mayor while he was chairing a meeting.

Mayor Ivan Petch usually brings a formal quality to the council meetings and unlike other mayors, he likes to wear the official mayoral chains.

At the June 10 meeting, councilors and staff stood up at 7.30pm for the mayor to enter.

Process Server in Tow Scandal Found Guilty

The process server involved in a local tow truck scandal pleaded no contest to several counts of conspiracy and perjury and the company's owner could be released on bail after the court dismissed a strike against him during his most recent court appearance.

The case against Vincent Cardinalli, Sr. 65, his son Paul Greer, 31, two other family members and process server Jeffrey Horan arrested on scores of counts of forgery, grand theft and other felony charges has been transferred to a San Jose judge because of the length of time estimated for the preliminary hearing, a process attorneys estimate could take up to six weeks.

ServeNow.com Advertiser Featured on Denver's 9News

ServeNow.com advertiser Trina Danley, of Danley Investigations, Inc. was interviewed regarding the death of another process server Stephen Allen, who was killed.

Danley says that although the incident was rare, there is a dangerous part to every job.

Violence Against Servers is Uncommon

Being the bearer of bad news isn’t a popular job.

But rarely does it end in any sort of violence or even murder, as it did for 57-year-old Stephen Allen, the process server whom James Scott Whitler allegedly beat and stabbed Wednesday at Whit-ler’s home west of Loveland.

Steve Carlyle — owner of Front Range Legal Process, which operates out of Fort Collins and Denver — has never heard of such hostility toward a process server.

Judge's Order Baffles Lawyers

Members of the Blount County legal community are scratching their heads over a recent court order - unattached to any docketed criminal or civil case - demanding that four lawyers produce documents having to do with local court procedures.

The order, signed by Circuit Court Judge Mike Meares on May 10 - a Saturday - ordered attorneys Steve Ogle, president of the Blount County Bar Association; Melanie E. Davis and Robert N. Goddard, both members of the association's Local Rules Committee; and David Black to appear in his courtroom the following Monday at 8 a.m. with any "correspondence to or from the Blount County Circuit or Chancery Courts or any of their judges or clerks about Local Rules."

Process Servers Take a Chance With Each Case

Process servers who do the same job that cost Stephen Allen his life say that although the incident was rare, they are taking a risk with every knock on the door.

"I'd say with 80 percent of the serves that are done, obviously the people aren't happy, but they accept it and aren't aggressive. Then you get 19 percent that aren't happy and give you (expletives)," said Steve Carlyle, owner of Front Range Legal Process Service LLC.

Steve Wennstedt, owner of Source Investigations LLC in Fort Collins, said he has dealt with a little push here and there, but nothing serious.

Economic Downturn is an Upturn for Some

A bad economy isn't bad for everyone.

While business may be booming, serving evictions and foreclosures exacts a toll on employers like Ody Eire, who owns Ody's Professional Process, a process server in Lehigh Acres.

"It's pretty sad," she said. "I've served people where I've sat down with them for an hour, telling them it will get better. I've cried with people. It's tough because I'm a female and we're emotional."