The Serve

Little Man Syndrom....

2010-07-06T10:06:00.000-07:00

Out serving one evening, I came across a little chihuahua who thought he was a pit bull. You know the type... short redneck that drives a big 'ole truck so he can actually look down on people for once, and has major issues about it.

I'm thinking it was around 7:30pm and dusk was settling in... I pulled up to the house next door, and began walking up to the Defendant's house. As I walked up the driveway, two men are facing the open garage grilling hamburgers. The man on the left, a short male in his later twenties weighing in a a buck-twenty, and the male on the left, an older male weighing in around 325 lbs. I approached with a friendly greeting, to which I received the same... I then asked if the Defendant was available, to which I received a "NO" and the two men just turned around and continued grilling. I inquired once again if the Defendant lived there, and once again received a "NO" response. I asked the "little man" for his name or for some I.D., and explained that I was a Process Server and had legal documents for the Defendant. He then got all puffed up and said that he didn't have to show me shit. I explained to him that if he was unable to provide me with identification, that I would end up serving him with the papers because refusal usually means a positive I.D. The older man started to tell me who "he" was, and the little man yelled at him and told him he didn't have to tell me anything. At this time the little man told me to get off his property and to not come back. I said OK and began walking down the driveway towards my vehicle.

As I walked towards my vehicle, the neighbor on the left pulled into his driveway, so I walked towards his vehicle to see if the Defendant lived at that address and to see if he knew the identity of the little man. As I began to talk to the neighbor, the little man then starts yelling at the neighbor and telling him that he doesn't have to talk to me. I ask the neighbor while the little man is still yelling at him and he just looks wide-eyed and not wanting to get involved and says that he doesn't know and just stands there. All the while, little man is also taunting me to come back on to his property, standing right inside the grass that separated his yard from the neighbor's driveway. I stopped and looked a this guy as he yelled and screamed at me to come back over that line because he wanted to "talk" to me. I just looked him square in the eye, said "How stupid do you think I am? This isn't my first rodeo", shook my head and just walked to my vehicle. I began to drive off, did a u-turn and began to drive past him as I was leaving I slowed down to write down the license plate of the vehicle in the drive, then headed on my merry way while he was still yelling and screaming waving his B-B-Q tool.

I could have stayed and squashed little man like a bug, or even argued with him... but why? I was obviously not going to get anywhere with the guy. Let the attorney do a skip trace and check the plates on the car and go from there.

Apparently little man just has little man syndrome because the attorney did do a skip trace, found another address for the Defendant, and oddly enough I served him at the new address which was directly across the street from someone else I had served one week earlier. Glad my instincts kept me from drop serving the little man. Crazy little Chihuahua!

MD

53 Serves In One Day.... Almost!

2010-07-02T12:44:00.000-07:00

I had routed 53 serves for myself for one single day going throughout Fort Worth... unfortunately I was only able to get through 35 of 'em. Served about 11, closed out another 5, and today I have already set up 8 appointments for the week after July 4th. I started that route at about 8am and went straight through till about 3:30pm when I mentally hit a brick wall. If I continued, which I could have, it would have been unfair to me, the people I was serving, as well as my wife which I snapped at over the phone on the way home, and I am very sorry for that.

Gotta remember... I'm not a machine, just a MadDog! And in the summer time... dogs need a little rest from time to time. So we are off for the 4th of July Weekend, and I'm not touching a serve until the Tuesday afterwards.

Happy Fourth of July everyone!

MD

Texas Capitol Legal Support, LLC

2010-07-02T12:36:00.000-07:00

Capitol Legal Support is now an LLC, so we had to change the name up a little. We are still Capitol Legal Support, but are now officially Texas Capitol Legal Support, LLC. Hope this is a start of a lot of good things!

- MadDog

SERVER OF THE MONTH....

2010-04-06T19:29:00.000-07:00

We received an email yesterday from a company that we've been receiving a LOT of serves from and doing a LOT of work for....

Hey Scott,

Our office has nominated you for Server of the Month for April! Will you please send us a picture of yourself (or you and your staff) so that we can post it on our “Server of the Month” board! We would like to recognize the excellent work you are doing!

Thanks,

Makes you feel all warm inside when you get a kudos like that, and proud of the work that we do. I know I do a majority of all the serves, but I wouldn't be able to do it without my wife and all of her office and prep work. Thank you!

Gonna Be A LONG Day....

2010-04-06T19:18:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow I have a route of 32 serves to attempt.... up at 4am, 10 hours at my other job, then start at 4:30pm serving. It's gonna be a LONG day! I hope that between 4:30pm and 9pm that I can knock a lot of them out.... we shall see. 32 to serve or at least get a first attempt completed tomorrow, then another 13 on top of that to do Thursday. Luckily I don't work the other job on Thursdays, so those will be knocked out that morning... then hopefully rest a little, 11 hour day Friday, and any appointments or left overs on Saturday. Amen for not having to serve on Sunday!!!

Oh, did I mention another 20 coming as well? That will be a total of 65 just in a week. Maybe I'll earn enough for my headstone.

G'nite!

No Such Thing As A Day Off.....

2010-04-01T15:27:00.000-07:00

Today was supposed to be a day off, but never the less... work prevails. Can't really complain, at least we have work coming in. I have heard of a lot of Process Servers not getting anything in as far as serves, so they are trying the Investigative route.... but I thought you had to have a P.I. license. Who knows.

The day started off at 7am.... leaving the house early to get to the first appointment in Arlington by 8am. I had about 14 serves with me, 3 of which were appointments, a few that we had already tried once and the rest were first attempts. My journey began in Arlington, getting the first appointment and first person served always starts a route off on a good note. I had another with me for Arlington that I had attempted the night before with no luck, and so far no call from the Notice I had attached to the door. I pulled up to the second of the day and thought it was my lucky day, since there was a new vehicle in the drive that wasn't there the night before. Spoke to the spouse who said that the servee was at work, but was about to call me. Right..... (sarcasm) They called the spouse while I waited to see when a good time to make an appointment would be. Luckily they were working in the same area that I was about to head to for other serves, and was able to get a cell number to call when I was in the area.

Left the second residence for the third that was off in Fort Worth. Made an attempt at the third with no one home, no vehicles or neighbors available to assist in verifying the address, so I filled out a Notice and placed it on the door. Got back in my car and noticed that I missed a call, so I call it back and reach someone that my wife had attempted the day before, which had two serves for two separate people at the same address. I asked if both were there and available, and they said yes but not for much longer. I scratched my original route for the moment and got to their address as quickly as possible and by the exact time that I told them that I would be there. Two more down.

Headed back towards Fort Worth from Burleson to the next address, which come to find out was a street or two away from the first one in Fort Worth that I had attempted earlier. Hey, if someone calls and says they are there and available, I'll drop what I am doing and get there to get the job done. Especially for two at the same time. Anyhow, get to the the next residence which has signs posted Private Property - No Trespassing... I Don't Own A Dog, But I Own A Gun (with a picture of a hand holding a gun), as well as cameras all over the front of the house. There were no cars, and of course no neighbors around to verify the resident. So I quickly filled out a Notice, posted it to the door and left before I met the gun.

Left that area and started towards the next one getting closer to the White Settlement area, and where I was supposed to meet the gentleman from Arlington that was working in the area. This next address had two serves at the same address for two different people. Of course by this time it's 10:30am, and usually a cut off time, when most people aren't home and at work. Not that I don't catch some in the middle of the week and in the middle of the day as well. No one home, and as usual no vehicles or neighbors to verify. Luckily my wife checks online to see who owns the property and jots that down on my field sheet. The person that I was looking for was the person that owned the home, so I posted a Notice and went on my merry way.

to be continued....

Fish In A Barrel...

2010-03-31T11:18:00.001-07:00

Thank GOD for the internet.... or should I really be thanking Al Gore?! The internet is one of the Process Servers best tools for mapping out routes, searching and skip tracing, and even finding a photo of someone that you are attempting to serve. With all of the networking sites, and even business sites out there, you are bound to find a photo of your servee, reducing the chance for them to deny their identity. Case in point.... today I had a serve for someone that I had an address for their employer, and very little more to go on. Before I headed out to the address, I went to Google, typed in the address to see what kind of business it was, looked around at the website itself, then "BAM".... there's a nice group photo of all of the employees and their names. There they were.... clear as day. Just like shooting fish in a barrel. Walked right in and there ya go. If only they were all that easy.

Afraid Of The Dark?

2009-09-08T09:09:00.000-07:00

Constables are generally elected peace officers with lesser jurisdiction than a Sheriff, but do play a vital role in the court systems by serving summonses and subpoenas for people to appear in court in criminal and/or civil matters. I've noticed lately that I have been getting papers that have been attempted once or twice before by a constable with no luck on serving the individual, and a majority of the time they are attempted only during the day or afternoon hours when people are generally at work. Not that I am perfect for that matter, but I would say 90% of the papers I have received with a previous attempt by a constable I have been able to serve on the first or second attempt. Is this just the nature of the beast? Do constables only serve during the day?

I feel sometimes that lawyers tend to hire a constable to serve process due to their stature as a law enforcement officer. At the same time, there are some constables that take the work away from us Private Process Servers, not giving the due diligence in their attempts to serve these important documents, and have even heard of them just tossing them in their trunk and making up their attempts. This has also been seen from Process Servers as well... but luckily a majority of the process servers that have done these ill practices have been caught and hopefully are no longer in the business. I know this is not a normal practice of most constables or process servers, but it just irritates me that if you are hired in this type of position, to uphold the laws and do the best job that you can do attempting to serve these documents that may not mean much to you, but are definitely very important to one or more of the parties in the court case.

Sorry... just can't believe that people would only attempt to serve in the middle of the day. Luckily most lawyers require us to make one attempt during the day, one attempt during the night (after 6 pm), and/or one attempt on the weekend - Saturday since we can not serve on Sunday. Spread it out... not many people are going to be home at 2pm during the week... and don't try three different attempts, three different days at the exact same time. That not only wastes your time, but the court's time as well.

Wild Kingdom....

2009-08-18T11:13:00.000-07:00

I've come across many animals while out serving... and these aren't even the one's that I've had to serve. From barely missing a deer while driving in a wooded residential area at dusk, to waiting on a gaggle of Geese to slowly walk across the street in the early AM. They always make me think of the Allstate commercial where all of the animals start screaming after the squirrel almost gets hit, then I hear Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom song in my head....

Early one morning I was serving someone in an apartment complex near a local lake. I finally located the apartment which was on the second floor, so I began to head up the steps. It was eerily quiet... and before I knocked on the door, I glanced to my right...back down the stairwell, to see a large raccoon just standing there on his two hind legs looking up at me. It appeared as if he were standing there with his arms crossed looking at me as if to say... "Where ya gonna go now, huh?" one way up... and only one way down. All I can think is... this SOB is gonna come charging at me, and this big strong guy is gonna scream like a little girl..... "RABIES!" waking the person that I needed to serve along with ALL of their neighbors. Finally, after about 10 minutes of curiosity the masked bandit finally moved along. No one was even home where I needed to serve. Oh well.

Another late evening... on a very dark street, the house that I pull up to has zero lights on outside with waist-high hedges on both sides of the sidewalk. I get out of the car, walk around the front of the car towards the house and I see an opossum walking on the left side of the hedge but it begins to run into the hedge. As I begin to walk up this dark sidewalk, I'm thinking that it's just a straight, smooth sidewalk... but to my surprise it has steps. I begin walking.. missing the first step, but kicking the second step and falling face forward. I caught myself with one hand since the other had the legal documents, but came face to face with the largest, ugliest rat (opossum) that I've ever seen. Don't let 'em fool ya... oh no.... they don't all play "possum." I obviously scared it, cause it scurried away... and I think I jumped up just as quickly to get away from it myself. I did get that serve... after all of that, I better have.

And finally, last but not least would you believe I came face to face with an actual beaver. Well, ok... not face to face... but close enough...and well, not an actual beav...well you'll see. Was on my second attempt to a guy who was being served with divorce papers. He supposedly just moved in to this apartment a week or two earlier, and I was unable to reach him after 6pm on a weekday, so I made my next attempt at 6am on a Saturday morning. Got up really early for a long drive... I wanted to be there when the sun came up and before he had a chance to go anywhere. I get to the address, which is a set of nice apartments near another local lake... I park and I wait as I enjoy a little breakfast in the car. The sun begins to rise and I walk up the stairs to the servee's apartment... knock on the door... knock on the door again... and to my surprise a young lady answers the door with only a shirt on.. scratching her head from just waking up, making the shirt play peek-a-boo with, well you know. I had to explain to a half naked young lady that had just woken up, that I needed her boyfriend to come to the door for legal documents. She slowly wandered back into the apartment, waking my servee to come to the door and be served. Done.

Wild Kingdom I say...... Wild Kingdom.

Man Up.....

2009-08-06T06:18:00.000-07:00

As a Process Server you tend to see a lot of things that can totally break your heart. Yes, beneath this hardened exterior is a soft and caring heart, and serving in some of the areas that I have had to serve makes you very thankful for everything you have and thankful for the way that you were raised yourself. At times I feel almost like a Social Worker. I get a lot of work from the family courts, and a bulk of that would be for Child Support. I know I have to be strong and a professional while out in the field, but seeing the living conditions of some of these people tears me up. Whether it's kids running amuck, appearing unbathed for days in front of a house with no adults around, asking to take a ride in my car... to a woman that is a girlfriend of someone you are trying to serve reeking of pot, begging you for money because she needs food for her baby. Most of the time I have to look past all of the poor conditions and just do my job... but I can't say that it doesn't bother me.

I really get tired of having to chase down adults that should know right from wrong, and are constantly avoiding me because they think that if they don't get served, they don't have to deal with it. But at the same time I make it my mission to serve them when they don't pay their child support, have left their spouse or girlfriend alone with a child (or four) because they are so selfish and immature to handle the responsibilities that come with unzipping their pants and having sex, and/or have another girl on the side that they will just do the same thing to. I know I should keep my opinions to myself while out in the field, but there have been a few times where I have told the servee..."Man Up! If I have to pay child support for the beautiful child that I helped bring into this world, then so should you."

Yes, there are instances like my own, where I had a child in marriage but unfortunately the marriage did not work out because my wife at the time had extracurricular activities and left me. So, yes there are times that the servee is not entirely at fault... there are always two sides to every story, but once again if you play the game and have a child (or children) and you are not raising that child... it is YOUR responsibility to pay child support for them. It's not the child's fault, so not paying your child support isn't getting back at your ex-spouse, but hurting the child. Man Up.... hell, Woman Up as well.... because I'm starting to see a lot more papers on women that have had children, left the children with the father and don't do anything for the child or children that they have given birth to.

The system isn't perfect.... I actually have a friend that has two children that live with him, and for the past two years he has been paying child support, despite being laid off, to the mother of the two children who lives a block or two away. He is raising them, cares for them, does the best he can to provide for his children... and yet she is receiving child support which she lives off of not even to support the kids, but herself and her habits. Is this fair... Hell No. Luckily he's doing his best now to get this reversed... he's a good soul and shouldn't be taken advantage of.

Ok... off my soapbox for the day... off to do the good job.

Late.

BBQ Ribs with a side of Justice....

2009-07-30T14:57:00.000-07:00

It was a good day serving today... I had eight sets of papers that needed to be delivered... thank God for GPS and Mapquest to set a route. Out of the eight I was able to close out five, serving two personally, two addresses that the servee no longer lived at, and one that was in jail. Out of the remaining three I've already received calls from two of the servees to set up appointments to deliver, and the last should be interesting... an individual that works at a cabaret that the Constible was never able to serve.

One of the sets of papers was for an individual at an apartment complex, to which I always talk to management to verify residency. 99.5% of the managers are compliant and usually helpful. Thankfully this was one of those times. I confirmed, got directions to which part of the complex it was in and headed that way. As I approach the particular building, I see that someone is grilling out, and has the grill all heated up and smoking, but no one is outside with it. Couldn't have made it any easier.... the grill was right in front of the apartment I needed, so I knew someone was home. Sometimes we are blessed with a photo of the servee... this was one of those times. I knocked on the door... heard some whispering... waited a few minutes and the door opened to my servee with a platter full of ribs to cook up for the afternoon lunch. With the photo provided, there was no mistake that this was my servee, but I confirmed and delivered.

Good day and very productive...

Peek-A-Boo..... Someone's Looking Out For You...

2009-07-29T08:39:00.000-07:00

...and someone definitely was looking out for me this day. Back when I first started serving I had a serve that still amazes me, and shows that you really have to be observant doing this job... and a little faith never hurt either.

I had made several attempts to an address that was not in such a great neighborhood, constantly with no luck. On the third attempt I finally spoke to a minor who verified the address and that the servee lived there. Finally a day or so later I received a phone call from the servee who called about the notices I had left, and we set up an appointment to meet the following day. We exchange info on what each us will be driving and what time I will be there, etc. The next day rolls around and I pull on to the street and park a few houses down to get a good visual for when they pull up in their car. The sun begins to disappear beyond the horizon as I notice two men walking down the street, and walk into the servee's residence. Still no car, so I pull up across the street from the house and wait. Not five minutes go by when I notice one of the men hiding on the side of the house holding something in his hands... waiting for me to walk up to the door and I'm sure get jumped. I decided to just sit in my vehicle and wait for this supposed car to show up. Finally after about thirty minutes, the other man that walked into the house walks out to my car and asks me who I was looking for. I told him who I was and who I was looking for, and he finally tells me that he is the servee that I am supposed to meet. He said that he parked his car around the corner and brought along a buddy because he thought that I was going to jump him. I checked his ID, gave him his legal docs and drove off into the night.

To this day I still think a higher power was watching over me that day... because if I would have gotten out of that car and stepped on to that property, I may not be here. But something inside me told me to wait. Always be aware of your surroundings.... no matter where you are. In this economy and people getting more and more desperate... times are getting scary.

Tuesday's Gone.....

2009-07-28T16:50:00.000-07:00

Nothing special today... two serves that I've already made the first attempts on. First one... talked to resident who gave name and said that they do not know the servee and have lived there since the 90's. Verified with neighbor that the servee doesn't live there via photo, as well as verified via TAD. Second serve, which was attempted many times by another Process Server with no luck, gave me a call from the notice I placed on the door the previous day. Set up appointment for later in the week. Pretty much have these two closed out, with about six in the cue including one at a gentleman's club.... that should be interesting.

Late.

2009-07-28T11:34:00.000-07:00

Well, here we go.... a blog of the ramblings of a Texas Process Server. Capitol Legal Support (www.capitollegalsupport.com) has been in business since 1997, and run by my wife and I for the last 7 years. My intentions are to write about the the strange happenings that I see while out serving legal documents in North Texas. May be entertaining... may just be some rambling.... but that's why it's my blog, right?
And away we go....