Company Blog
The Impossible Service
We were given papers to serve on a man who had a pit bull and never left his house. Our servers made numerous attempts however the subject would never make a sound but the dog would bark ferociously. Our server could tell that he was in there because he could see tall shadowy movements behind the curtains at night.
We had his photo and description, none of which was helpful since he was never seen outside of his house.
I had not personally attempted service yet, so I retrieved the document from my perplexed server and grabbed my large red pizza bag. I waited until 10:30 that night and then went to the walkway in front of his house, turned my back to his house and took out my cell phone and complained loudly that the pizza shop had given me the wrong address. After about five minutes of this one sided – loud – conversation, I heard a door open behind me and an irritated male voice yelled out to me, “What address are you looking for?”
I turned and saw the defendant, whose photo we had, standing on the porch (thankfully without his dog). I approached him and reached into the pizza bag and took out the papers and announced his name and said, “I have legal documents for you and you are served.” He turned and ran into the house but the papers lay there on his porch much to his chagrin.
The Gift That Keeps on Giving
I had a rush subpoena for a woman who another process serving company had attempted to serve but she would never answer her door, and she lived in a posh high security condo in Chevy Chase. In the past I would usually use my red pizza delivery bag on difficult services but just before I left the office I received an edible arrangement from my darling wife and it came in a nice white bag with the company’s name printed on the side. I put the papers under the box of chocolate covered strawberries in my new bag and security didn’t even give me a second look as I walked past him. When I arrived at the subject’s condo, someone looked at me through the peep hole but retreated and never answered the door. A few minutes later I called the subject by her first name and once again the peep hole darkened and I held up the bag and announced “Delivery!” She hesitated for a few seconds and said, “Leave it at the door.” I said, “Ma’am, I need a signature or I have to take it back.” She hesitated a few more seconds and then opened the door and acknowledged her name. When I pulled the subpoena from the bag, she had a few choice words for me and slammed the door, but not before the papers floated to her feet. I celebrated all the way down in the elevator with my chocolate covered strawberries.
(Note regarding drop services: It is not necessary for the party being served to actually take the documents in their hand, only to have knowledge that they are being served and the immediate ability to take possession of the document, at that point they have been served, whether they take them in their hand or the papers are dropped at their feet.)
GWU Girls Go to Work…And Serve Some Process
This video is hilarious! These girls should work for Same Day Process!
