The full story can be read at  http://newsandinsight.thomsonreuters.com/Legal/News/2012/01_-_January/NY_judge__Sloppy_service_has_legal_consequences/

It brought to mind an incident a couple of months ago, where a client of mine requested whether our agent had noted a specific vehicles registration number when serving some documents three months prior. I checked our Information Report, which did not show the information, and therefore telephoned the local process server to ask if he could check his notes just to make sure he hadn’t written it down and just not provided it to us. The response I got was ‘from three months ago? i don’t keep records that far back’. The process server in question had worringly not got any notes about the serve, nor a copy of the documents, nor even a copy of his proof of service. If this matter ever needed his subsequent attention, he would have absolutely no physical record of what happened, other than what he can remember – and bear in mind some process servers serve multiple people every day!

This prompted me to make some further enquiries with people I assume to be well regarded within the industry, and found that a vast number of process serving firms do not keep any record of what I would consider to be ‘basic information’. There is no record of attendances made, they are unable to produce either a copy of the documents served, or the proof that they did it, no physical description of the respondent, no record of any telephone numbers they may have obtained along the way…………. so in a nutshell, if for some reason the client misplaced the information sent to them at the time of service, it is now lost forever! I am unsure that if the process server was ever called to Witness, ‘I can’t remember’ would be a suitable answer to questioning.

So, for your peace of mind, I would like to confirm that ASH (UK) Process Servers Ltd hold scanned copies of the following records for every process serve we have conducted since the day we were established…..

1. A copy of the clients instructing letter
2. A copy of the documents we served
3. A copy of the Certificate, Statement, Sworn Affidavit, or other proof of service
4. A copy of the Information Report sent to the client (containing any useful telephone numbers, vehicle and respondent descriptions etc).

If you have ever misplaced anything we have provided to you, be rest assured that we will have a scanned copy of it which we can email you in an instant!

I am pleased to learn that no serious harm came to the process server, and that in his words ‘his good looks remain intact’. It does however highlight the danger we can expose ourselves to in our daily dealings.

We all take our jobs very seriously, and never assume a situation will run smoothly, but we would urge our clients to make sure we are made aware of potentially volatile situations in advance, because we can then make the necessary arrangements to ensure our process servers are kept safe.