Originally Posted by
Jim Lyons
Process service is such a gray area and this is one of the reasons. You serve a target and the guy says he didn't get served. What's he going to do, show up in court to claim that you served his roommate by accident? Well, there he is, in court. You did your job.
The correct answer in general to your question is, no, sometimes, and/or maybe.
You should serve your target, period, unless they are: a minor; in a penal or psychological institution; under the supervision of a guardian-executor-administrator-etc.; or something quantifiable. My rule of thumb was, I serve the person unless there is a piece of paper signed by a judge or someone qualified such as a social services administrator saying that person is not available to be personally served or is not mentally capable to deal with the issues involved.
Does that mean I never gave the paper to a wife, roommate or child? Not at all. We just had a case where we had to serve 12 papers within 24 hours for a hearing in less than 96 hours. Three papers were left with husbands or wives and one was left with a teenaged son who looked to be very responsible.
Could they have contested the service? Sure. But why?
Even in standard services with plenty of time on the clock, there might be gray areas. Very rarely, if the person who answers the door knows everything about the case, seems honest and says the target will get the subpeona and will appear, sometimes I'd leave the paper. I would also get the name of the person answering the door and ask them to sign for the document. Not legal, but I never had anyone say, "The target didn't show up for the hearing so we're suing you."
Now, when addresses change or while serving someone at work, that changes the picture. You should specifically serve the individual and, in general, not trust anyone involved.
Unless the person is moving from one palatial suburban home to another, the move is most likely signs of economic, emotional and personal instability. I'd want to put that paper right in the hand of my target.
The case you describe makes me scratch my head: Target is to be served at a residence other than the target's residence, and first contact at this location is with someone who doesn't reside there or with the target.
Do you leave the paper? Well, if the first contact person is a tatooed, spiked haired freak with an odd number of teeth, probably not. If it's granny, she knows what it's about and seems to be on your side, maybe.
But in a case like that, I think I'd want to put the paper right in the hands of the target, and maybe even ask for an ID. I'd also ask if the client wanted me to spend extra time to make sure the right guy got served, maybe have someone run his plates or provide a physical description.
In a situation like this, I would expect to at least ask to make a few more bucks on the deal. And I would deliver the goods, a paper hand delivered to the target.