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Thread: NY Judge Nixes Bank’s Foreclosure Judgment Because Process Server Didn’t Keep Records

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    Liz Mason - is offline Private Investigator Forum Member
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    NY Judge Nixes Bank’s Foreclosure Judgment Because Process Server Didn’t Keep Records

    This news story just proves that proper notes and records are necessary on all subjects. No one is exempt from maintaining correct and detailed records. This person should have known better!

    Source is posted at the bottom of the story:

    Opening a door to a potential defense that apparently has largely or entirely gone unnoticed in mortgage foreclosure cases, a New York judge last month overturned a bank judgment because a process server didn't keep records required by law.

    A former police officer working for A&J Process Service admitted to state Supreme Court Justice F. Dana Winslow that he didn't keep records either in the Nassau County case of Soledad Murillo or in thousands of others over the past six years, Reuters reports.

    Failure by a process server to keep records concerning efforts to serve a complaint on the defendant homeowner violates New York's general business law, the judge held. A lawyer for the once-prolific Steven J. Baum foreclosure law firm, which had a local office on the same floor of the same building as A&J, argued unsuccessfully that a process server's failure to keep records wasn't a reason to overturn a foreclosure judgment.

    "The duty to keep comprehensive records may have been unnoticed, or underestimated, by litigants and the courts," the judge said in a Dec. 22 written opinion. "Past practice, however, cannot be the motivating force for future conduct and determinations."

    http://www.abajournal.com/news/artic...process_server

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    Stephen Douglass's Avatar
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    Re: NY Judge Nixes Bank’s Foreclosure Judgment Because Process Server Didn’t Keep Records

    As a former law enforcement official this man should have known better.

    Detailed records should be kept, maintained, and made available to the courts for a minimum of two years.
    Federal statute dictates that business records be kept now indefinitely, where that used to be 2 to 10 years. The law firm he conducted the process for should have maintained their copies as well, as they are required to have copies of them. What exactly fell through the cracks here?

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    Liz Mason - is offline Private Investigator Forum Member
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    Re: NY Judge Nixes Bank’s Foreclosure Judgment Because Process Server Didn’t Keep Records

    Stephen,

    Sorry I cannot answer your question as this was an article I located. I know nothing about the case. I figured that as many Process Servers we have here might be interested in reading this so just in the off chance they conduct business in the same manner, they can see how it can come back to bite you in the "BLEEP"...

    Liz

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    Petra Post -'s Avatar
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    Re: NY Judge Nixes Bank’s Foreclosure Judgment Because Process Server Didn’t Keep Records

    Quote Originally Posted by Liz Mason View Post
    Stephen,

    Sorry I cannot answer your question as this was an article I located. I know nothing about the case. I figured that as many Process Servers we have here might be interested in reading this so just in the off chance they conduct business in the same manner, they can see how it can come back to bite you in the "BLEEP"...

    Liz
    Liz,

    I don't think Stephen is actually looking for an answer here... guessing, it's more a statement, lol. You are definitely right, records should be kept, if nothing else, to keep your 6 covered. HELLO... and as a former LEO, also definitely.

    And he did 6 years of this... and no records whatsoever? Wow... he deserves more than a slap on the wrist for sure (my opinion).

    I always tell everyone, keep records, no if's, and's or but's.

    I had someone come back at me on a case that went almost 3 years back. My memory is good, but heck... it ain't that good, lol. Gladly, I've told that Attorney, to give me some time to go through my records (HELLOOOO) and got back with an answer to them within 12 hours time. Bingo, rest my case

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    Stephen Douglass's Avatar
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    Re: NY Judge Nixes Bank’s Foreclosure Judgment Because Process Server Didn’t Keep Records

    Petra and liz,

    The Question was rhetorical.

    My point is that

    1: Some times errors happen and you "misplace" an affidavit. My office has handled upwards of 30-40 a week with as many as 10 offices and same number of active cases. Time management and some little tricks, such as writing the lawyers initials on the back right hand corner of the Affidavit or Certificate of completion reduces the risk of it being misfiled with the wrong office or court.

    2: There are times that for what ever the reason, my copy of the affidavit "slips through the cracks". Be it an admin fupa or my own doing. Here in New York, The law office is also required to keep a copy in it's clients files. When I realize that my personal copy has been misplaced, I pick up the phone and ask them for a replacement copy.

    The law firm that hired him is equally in error if they have no copy. I copy my detailed notes and submitt them with the bill, unless there is nothing to note, i.e. they are personally served in the first attempt with no incident and everyone moves on their merry way.

    Stakeouts and active evaders receive special affidavits from me that read more like a deposition and may be pages long. The lawyer then gets a detailed notes copy (as before) that covers in depth, the smalls that where not needed in the affidavit.

    This does three things:
    A) CYA

    B) And if God forbid, my iron clad service is questioned, I have you over a barrel, complete with photos of you flipping me off as I drive away! Funny, I remember being there and speaking with you're unusually tattooed self, must have been your twin, with an Identical tat ;-}

    C) gets you call backs and referrals, every time.

    I retain my journals permanently. Old paperwork (copies of Duces Tecums, orders to show cause, etc.) I destroy them after 2 years. If I didn't I'd have to by stock in shipping containers, you know the kind they put freight in.
    I keep my affidavits for ten years, that is a working record and should be treated as such. I have toyed with the idea of transferring them to Electronic storage, but haven't as of yet.

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