Should I act as a process server?
April 13, 2011 6:27 AM Subscribe
I've been asked to serve papers for a small claims case by an acquaintance. To what sort of risk will I expose myself - especially legal or financial risk - if I do this?
An acquaintance of mine has asked me to serve papers for a small claims suit to the defendant. The defendant is a neighbor in my complex, to whom I've said hello only once or twice. The acquaintance is someone to whom I'm not close, but who is sort of a business contact. I'd like to do this for them as it might help me down the road (and they're in the right, with a problem I'm sympathetic to).
Am I opening myself up to any legal liability by doing so? Service of process in my state can be done by anyone over 18 who is not named in the case. I know y'all aren't my lawyers - I just don't want to do this if I'm endangering myself, especially from a legal or financial standpoint.
An acquaintance of mine has asked me to serve papers for a small claims suit to the defendant. The defendant is a neighbor in my complex, to whom I've said hello only once or twice. The acquaintance is someone to whom I'm not close, but who is sort of a business contact. I'd like to do this for them as it might help me down the road (and they're in the right, with a problem I'm sympathetic to).
Am I opening myself up to any legal liability by doing so? Service of process in my state can be done by anyone over 18 who is not named in the case. I know y'all aren't my lawyers - I just don't want to do this if I'm endangering myself, especially from a legal or financial standpoint.
From the non-legal side, there's the fact that you'll have a neighbor, who knows where you live, who probably will completely and utterly hate you.
posted by inigo2 at 6:34 AM on April 13, 2011 [7 favorites]
posted by inigo2 at 6:34 AM on April 13, 2011 [7 favorites]
Ignoring the legal question completely, I strongly advise you not to do this. You don't want or need an acrimonious relationship with your neighbors. Find a way to politely decline.
posted by mhoye at 6:43 AM on April 13, 2011 [2 favorites]
posted by mhoye at 6:43 AM on April 13, 2011 [2 favorites]
Where I am, the sheriff's office will do this for about 40 bucks depending on travel mileage.
posted by moammargaret at 6:46 AM on April 13, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by moammargaret at 6:46 AM on April 13, 2011 [1 favorite]
I can't speak to legality, but I would be personally uncomfortable doing it. The neighbor knows where you live, knows what you drive, and can take any number of vindictive steps that could be costly and impossible to prove.
I wouldn't do it. Let the acquaintance hire a professional who does it for a living. He can call a bail bondsman and ask for a recommendation, or call the state bar association and ask them.
posted by dejah420 at 6:47 AM on April 13, 2011
I wouldn't do it. Let the acquaintance hire a professional who does it for a living. He can call a bail bondsman and ask for a recommendation, or call the state bar association and ask them.
posted by dejah420 at 6:47 AM on April 13, 2011
You have no legal liability if you serve papers, assuming you follow the instructions in your state. And even then, the liability would not have anything to do with the case, just as far as your breaking any laws about process serving. You probably will have to register and possibly get licensed to do this.
Please do not do this. In this world where so few neighbors know each other, why widen the rift? There are thousands of total strangers who earn small part-time income doing this. Just let them do it. Here is a directory. Maybe open the door for them, but don't do it yourself.
posted by michaelh at 6:47 AM on April 13, 2011 [1 favorite]
Please do not do this. In this world where so few neighbors know each other, why widen the rift? There are thousands of total strangers who earn small part-time income doing this. Just let them do it. Here is a directory. Maybe open the door for them, but don't do it yourself.
posted by michaelh at 6:47 AM on April 13, 2011 [1 favorite]
There is no reason for you to do this. None. This is not a reasonable favorable request by a best friend or a mentor, much less a minor business acquaintance.
posted by T.D. Strange at 7:19 AM on April 13, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by T.D. Strange at 7:19 AM on April 13, 2011 [1 favorite]
As a practical matter, in the states I've been in, service fees are recoverable in smalls claims court as expenses that will be padded onto the amount claimed by the judge. So long as an "approved" method is used (ie, a police officer, certified mail, or, presumably, legitimate process servers), your friend won't have to pay for the service anyway. If your friend is confident in his case, there's no reason he should try to save money by using you as a process server.
posted by saeculorum at 7:22 AM on April 13, 2011 [3 favorites]
posted by saeculorum at 7:22 AM on April 13, 2011 [3 favorites]
I wouldn't do it. You have to see this person on a regular basis. There are plenty of people who can do this who don't live by this person. I paid the sheriff's office to do this and they got me all documents back filled out perfectly. My partner was served by someone who managed to fill all the paperwork out wrong when they filed it with the courts.
posted by Zophi at 7:30 AM on April 13, 2011
posted by Zophi at 7:30 AM on April 13, 2011
Yeah, don't do it. Process servers get assaulted and killed all the time. Get the sherriff or a professional to do it.
posted by electroboy at 7:37 AM on April 13, 2011 [3 favorites]
posted by electroboy at 7:37 AM on April 13, 2011 [3 favorites]
Yeah, no. This is nuts. I wouldn't do it if my own mother asked me, since perfectly reasonable alternatives exist. Tell them to hire a professional.
posted by schmod at 8:24 AM on April 13, 2011
posted by schmod at 8:24 AM on April 13, 2011
it might help me down the road
It might also help you, down the road, to be on good terms with your neighbors.
posted by amtho at 8:25 AM on April 13, 2011 [1 favorite]
It might also help you, down the road, to be on good terms with your neighbors.
posted by amtho at 8:25 AM on April 13, 2011 [1 favorite]
I guess I'll be a little contrarian here.
I had to evict a rental tenant from a single-family house, and I had my sister serve the notice. (Valid service consisted of affixing the notice to pay or quit to the door of the house.) (My wife and I were not in town.)
We gave my sister very specific instructions regarding the steps we wanted taken, and I gave her very specific advice about what to do if the tenants were home. (Hand them the papers, do not touch them, do not argue with them, don't do anything threatening.)
I felt like I was imposing a bit on my sister, but that given who was being served I didn't feel like I was putting her into harm's way.
The OP's situation is a touch different, since it sounds like they might have to tag the neighbor with the papers. I think the potential for social awkwardness or other negative interaction between the OP and the person being served is also a big issue. If we're talking about a giant apartment complex with dozens of residents, I might be a touch more comfortable with the request than if it's a small brownstone. If my sister even remotely knew or interacted with the tenants I was evicting, I would probably have thought a little harder about it.
posted by QuantumMeruit at 9:17 AM on April 13, 2011
I had to evict a rental tenant from a single-family house, and I had my sister serve the notice. (Valid service consisted of affixing the notice to pay or quit to the door of the house.) (My wife and I were not in town.)
We gave my sister very specific instructions regarding the steps we wanted taken, and I gave her very specific advice about what to do if the tenants were home. (Hand them the papers, do not touch them, do not argue with them, don't do anything threatening.)
I felt like I was imposing a bit on my sister, but that given who was being served I didn't feel like I was putting her into harm's way.
The OP's situation is a touch different, since it sounds like they might have to tag the neighbor with the papers. I think the potential for social awkwardness or other negative interaction between the OP and the person being served is also a big issue. If we're talking about a giant apartment complex with dozens of residents, I might be a touch more comfortable with the request than if it's a small brownstone. If my sister even remotely knew or interacted with the tenants I was evicting, I would probably have thought a little harder about it.
posted by QuantumMeruit at 9:17 AM on April 13, 2011
The main risk with service, if you proceed, is that defendant will deny he was properly served, making you a potential witness in court. Otherwise, just make sure you obey the law, and be sure to review the proof of service you're expected to sign before and compare it to the documents to make sure you're not going to inadvertently sign something that is misleading or false.
That said, this is a bad idea for you. I understand the importance of wanting to help this person, but the best thing plaintiff could do is spend the $30 to $40 it will cost to have a sheriff's deputy do this. You don't need the awkwardness and you don't need the defendant to know where you live. Sorry, but if plaintiff asked only because you're a neighbor, the plaintiff is a jerk. Putting you in this situation to save the service cost isn't thrifty, it's cheap.
OTOH, perhaps you can arrange for an acquaintance who doesn't frequent your neighborhood to handle it for you.
posted by Hylas at 10:10 AM on April 13, 2011 [1 favorite]
That said, this is a bad idea for you. I understand the importance of wanting to help this person, but the best thing plaintiff could do is spend the $30 to $40 it will cost to have a sheriff's deputy do this. You don't need the awkwardness and you don't need the defendant to know where you live. Sorry, but if plaintiff asked only because you're a neighbor, the plaintiff is a jerk. Putting you in this situation to save the service cost isn't thrifty, it's cheap.
OTOH, perhaps you can arrange for an acquaintance who doesn't frequent your neighborhood to handle it for you.
posted by Hylas at 10:10 AM on April 13, 2011 [1 favorite]
I think you might need to be a licensed process server to serve someone (husband used to be one in California), so you might not be able to do it anyway.
He got $19 per successful serve, and his firm charged about $65. So your friend might want to just pay for that and save you the hassle.
posted by vickyverky at 10:15 AM on April 13, 2011
He got $19 per successful serve, and his firm charged about $65. So your friend might want to just pay for that and save you the hassle.
posted by vickyverky at 10:15 AM on April 13, 2011
This is nuts. Don't do this. In my law practice I always have professionals do it (sheriff's deputies or private process servers) unless it's a subpoena being served on an established organization of some kind.
Getting sued is a frightening, intimidating thing, basically saying "You're facing the force of the state to compel you to do something." Professionsl process servers carry guns in my area. YOU do not need to be the messenger in this situation, fuck up your relations with a neighbor, etc. I pay somebody $45 to serve papers for me. If this friend wants to put you at risk in all these ways to SAVE FORTY-FIVE BUCKS, he ain't much of a friend.
posted by jayder at 10:40 AM on April 13, 2011
Getting sued is a frightening, intimidating thing, basically saying "You're facing the force of the state to compel you to do something." Professionsl process servers carry guns in my area. YOU do not need to be the messenger in this situation, fuck up your relations with a neighbor, etc. I pay somebody $45 to serve papers for me. If this friend wants to put you at risk in all these ways to SAVE FORTY-FIVE BUCKS, he ain't much of a friend.
posted by jayder at 10:40 AM on April 13, 2011
In every state where I've lived ... which isn't necessarily an extensive list and may not include yours ... small claims court didn't require process servers. You could serve someone just by sending them the documents in the mail (First Class). There was some sort of presumption that if you had proof of mailing and proof of delivery from the Post Office that they had received it and been served.
So I'd say no, and I'd tell your friend to look into whether this is really required.
Not only is serving papers on people not your job, but it's also a good idea to stay on good terms with your neighbors. I wouldn't get in the middle of a legal dispute one of them was having in nearly any event; there's just too much potential for nastiness down the road. If this turns out badly for your neighbor, do you really want to be seen as the guy who kicked the whole thing off? You might be coming home to anonymous bags of poop stuffed in your mailbox (or worse) for a long time.
Stay away.
posted by Kadin2048 at 10:57 AM on April 13, 2011 [1 favorite]
So I'd say no, and I'd tell your friend to look into whether this is really required.
Not only is serving papers on people not your job, but it's also a good idea to stay on good terms with your neighbors. I wouldn't get in the middle of a legal dispute one of them was having in nearly any event; there's just too much potential for nastiness down the road. If this turns out badly for your neighbor, do you really want to be seen as the guy who kicked the whole thing off? You might be coming home to anonymous bags of poop stuffed in your mailbox (or worse) for a long time.
Stay away.
posted by Kadin2048 at 10:57 AM on April 13, 2011 [1 favorite]
The person asking you to serve these papers is depriving a legitimate business (process server) of income, and using you as scab labor (unpaid, at that.) For that reason alone, don't do it. But don't do it anyway, for all the reasons listed above.
And by the way, "helping you down the road later" sounds a bit suck-uppy to me.
posted by BostonTerrier at 12:22 PM on April 13, 2011
And by the way, "helping you down the road later" sounds a bit suck-uppy to me.
posted by BostonTerrier at 12:22 PM on April 13, 2011
I would NOT do this. When I worked for a law firm, we only had papers serve by a private investigator in the building who had a concealed handgun permit, because process serving can be really dangerous. Ever heard of "killing the messenger?" I'm not saying your neighbor will be violent, but I would never serve process on someone, myself. Also, your neighbor knows where you live...
posted by elpea at 12:46 PM on April 13, 2011
posted by elpea at 12:46 PM on April 13, 2011
It is completely reasonable for you to tell the acquaintance that you are not comfortable doing it b/c the defendant is a neighbor who you will have to see going forward.
I have done service of process for all kinds of civil actions, and, surprise! some of the people being served were not happy to be served.
There is no way I would accept a service job, no matter how much the pay was, where I would have to serve a neighbor. It makes no kind of sense.
posted by mlis at 2:01 PM on April 13, 2011
I have done service of process for all kinds of civil actions, and, surprise! some of the people being served were not happy to be served.
There is no way I would accept a service job, no matter how much the pay was, where I would have to serve a neighbor. It makes no kind of sense.
posted by mlis at 2:01 PM on April 13, 2011
I think where there might a disconnect here is that in many states, personal service of papers for a small claims case is a very rare and unusual thing. In Ohio, it's all normally done by certified mail, return receipt requested. The sherriff's office handles certain other situations and you only deal with private process servers when the sherriff is too slow or there are complications.
So the combination of "small claims" and "personal service" indicates to me that something weird is going on, either in a "are you sure a Real Lawyer is saying this necessary" kind of way or in a "whoa, someone's playing games" kind of way. Or it might just be a weird jurisdiction that's different from the ones I'm familiar with.
By way of example, in the first six years of my early years of practice in Ohio doing commercial civil litigation, I had exactly ONE domestic* case in which we resorted to personal service. We literally sent one of our paralegals to wait in the neighbor's driveway until our guy got home, and we were only half joking about telling her to hide in the bushes; it was a huge case with a "time is of the essence" situation where one day's difference really was critical, and there was an open question regarding whether the guy would attempt to evade service. We had a cab driver in town who we used for all sorts of stuff (who, yes, had a concealed carry permit) who other guys in the office used for process serving situations where guys could go bonkers, but I am very hard-pressed to think of a situation where things went bad.
The stories about process service going bad that I have heard all involve tales from my colleagues doing domestic relations law. Think restraining orders or divorces.
Bottom line, if you really want to curry favor with the guy asking this favor, and if you can get over the "something weird's going on" stuff, and realizing that at most you're saving the guy a hundred bucks or whatnot, AND if this is a bloodless business lawsuit involving a situation where the person being served is really mellow / not likely to fly into a homicidal rage when served (or if you're sure it can be validly accomplished by simply posting the darned thing on the door), it might not be as horrible an idea as some people in the thread are suggesting.
Don't get me wrong, though -- I, myself, wouldn't do it.
* I had a piece of a crazy international case involving international service of process under the Hague convention, which, for some countries DID involve personal service, but that war story is neither here nor there. One of my colleagues was making a really enthusiastic argument that to be Absolutely Safe we really needed to go for personal service on the guy in the Bahamas, and that he would be happy to take the bullet for the team and do it himself.
posted by QuantumMeruit at 3:04 PM on April 13, 2011
So the combination of "small claims" and "personal service" indicates to me that something weird is going on, either in a "are you sure a Real Lawyer is saying this necessary" kind of way or in a "whoa, someone's playing games" kind of way. Or it might just be a weird jurisdiction that's different from the ones I'm familiar with.
By way of example, in the first six years of my early years of practice in Ohio doing commercial civil litigation, I had exactly ONE domestic* case in which we resorted to personal service. We literally sent one of our paralegals to wait in the neighbor's driveway until our guy got home, and we were only half joking about telling her to hide in the bushes; it was a huge case with a "time is of the essence" situation where one day's difference really was critical, and there was an open question regarding whether the guy would attempt to evade service. We had a cab driver in town who we used for all sorts of stuff (who, yes, had a concealed carry permit) who other guys in the office used for process serving situations where guys could go bonkers, but I am very hard-pressed to think of a situation where things went bad.
The stories about process service going bad that I have heard all involve tales from my colleagues doing domestic relations law. Think restraining orders or divorces.
Bottom line, if you really want to curry favor with the guy asking this favor, and if you can get over the "something weird's going on" stuff, and realizing that at most you're saving the guy a hundred bucks or whatnot, AND if this is a bloodless business lawsuit involving a situation where the person being served is really mellow / not likely to fly into a homicidal rage when served (or if you're sure it can be validly accomplished by simply posting the darned thing on the door), it might not be as horrible an idea as some people in the thread are suggesting.
Don't get me wrong, though -- I, myself, wouldn't do it.
* I had a piece of a crazy international case involving international service of process under the Hague convention, which, for some countries DID involve personal service, but that war story is neither here nor there. One of my colleagues was making a really enthusiastic argument that to be Absolutely Safe we really needed to go for personal service on the guy in the Bahamas, and that he would be happy to take the bullet for the team and do it himself.
posted by QuantumMeruit at 3:04 PM on April 13, 2011
Don't ever serve papers for someone who isn't a close relative or loved one who you know is a responsible and above-board sort, and even then you shouldn't do it.
posted by Justinian at 4:15 PM on April 13, 2011
posted by Justinian at 4:15 PM on April 13, 2011
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by three blind mice at 6:34 AM on April 13, 2011