A last-minute surge in attendance raised the number of attendees to 284, which was about 30 more than we've been drawing the last several years. By all accounts the attendees liked the hotel, the food, the Saturday night entertainment, and the educational program---all the excellent seminar speakers and the roundtable discussions. And they really liked St. Louis, especially the St. Louis Cardinals baseball game and the "Blues Cruise." The golf and poker tournaments were also big hits, with record participants in each event. The softball game, unfortunately, was rained out.
The dark side of this conference, however, was that only 152 of the attendees were members, which is a little less than 10-percent of our membership, and not even all of those who attended showed up to vote in the elections. Only 104 voted in the election of officers and that number dropped to 99 when the votes were cast for directors.
Of particular interest in the article is the author's recitation of the "problems" that stem from having "untrained, inexperienced" individuals serve civil process. We're only too familiar with the usual arguments that opponents use to denigrate private process servers, but this article adds a couple of new allegations. Here's what the author says were among the problems experienced in just one Tennessee county:
The elections brought front and center one new officer-Robin Martinelli (GA), secretary, and two old timers-Jeff Karotkin (CA), 1st Vice-President, and Bruce Lazarus (NY), 2nd Vice-President.
This conference was to have been a one-time defining test to determine if the registration fee (usually $200 for members and $150 for spouse/guest) was a significant cause of our failure to attract more than 250 attendees at recent conventions. There was a general feeling by the board that reducing the registration fees---$50 for members and $25 for spouse/guest---would generate a substantial increase in attendance. While it only produced a little over 30 additional attendees, some individuals voiced their appreciation for the reduced fees and said it was the major factor in their coming to the conference. But most of the participants were silent on this point. They were the die-hard regular attendees who never miss a convention and would probably manage to attend no matter what it cost or where it was located.
The NAPPS 2005 Conference will be held in Scottsdale (Phoenix), Arizona, at the Chaparal Suites Resort. The dates are May 19-21, 2005. I've visited this hotel and it is extremely nice, with two swimming pools, a tennis court and great meeting space. Our single/double rate is $119 plus tax, which includes complimentary full breakfast and evening cocktails.
In Memoriam-Greg Hanshaw / Robert Lovas
We were saddened to learn of the passing of two of our long-time members: Gregory Hanshaw of Sunset Process Service in Oak Harbor, Wash., and Robert Lovas of Action Investigation Service in Waukesha, Wisc. Mr. Lovas, 53, died suddenly on March 31 while preparing for a meeting. Mr. Handshaw, also 53, had battled cancer for four years before finally succumbing on June 4. We extend our sincere condolences to their wives and families.
Jury Convicts Brothers in Oklahoma Assault Case
The tragic shooting of 12-year-old Jacob Ayers in April 2003 caused a rash of comment and debate on the various process server forums. Jacob's mother, a process server, had driven in the family pickup truck to defendant's home in a rural area outside of Marietta, OK. to serve him with a summons in a small claims action. Okla. Her husband was in the passenger seat and her son was seated between them. She got out of the pickup and walked up to the front porch, where two young men are standing. Enroute, she was met by their father who gets into a hassle with Ms. Ayers over the service. The two young men run into the house and quickly return to the porch with guns at the ready. Jacob's father jumps out of the passenger side of the pickup with a handgun and rushes to help his wife. In the melee that ensued, both the process server and her husband were able to make it back inside the pickup without significant injury. But while Ms. Ayers was in the act of driving away, the two men on the porch began inexplicably shooting at the vehicle. A single shot went through the window and struck young Jacob in the head. It's been over a year since the shooting and Jacob still has partial paralysis.
The news accounts of this tragedy were woefully incomplete and sometimes incomprehensible. It was difficult for the reader to try and piece together a recreation of exactly what happened. Those who posted comments on the forums weren't all that concerned about the mechanics of what happened, but they were in hot debate over whether it was appropriate for a process server to take a minor child with them when on the job serving process. A few wanted to know why state and national process serving associations didn't get busy passing laws making it a crime to assault a process server while in the act of serving process.
Although Oklahoma has no special laws protecting process servers from assault, there's at least one judge and one jury in that state who are ready and willing to come to their defense.
Last September the father of the two young men, who manhandled Ms. Ayers, was found guilty of assaulting her and Jacob. He was sentenced to a total of 496 days in jail and a $500 fine.
In July, a 12-person jury deliberated only 3-1/2 hours before returning six guilty verdicts against the two brothers, ages 31 and 27, who have been cooped up in jail ever since they were arrested 15 months ago. In the sentencing phase of the case, the panel recommended sentences totaling 49 years for the older brother and 24 years for the younger brother.
And to think that all this resulted from the attempted service of a measly small claims summons!
Highlights of Important Current Legislation
FLORIDA: On 6/10/04 the Governor signed into law SB 222, which permits substituted service on the person in charge of a private mailbox when the process server determines that the person to be served does in fact have a mailbox at that location. It also permits substituted service on a corporation by leaving with the person in charge of a private mailbox when that is the address provided for the registered agent, officer, director, or the corporation's principal place of business. This law was sponsored by the Florida Associations of Professional Process Servers (FAPPS) and its success is due in no small measure to the political skills and dogged determination of NAPPS and FAPPS member Jack Lippman.
NORTH CAROLINA: It took a couple of years but HB 918 finally made it through with the Governor's signature. It seems hardly worth the effort, since the legislation only raises the sheriffs' fee for service of civil process to $15. Nonetheless it's a whopping 300% increase over the previous fee of $5. At least 50% of the new fee is to be used "to ensure timely service of process within the county, which may include the hiring of additional law enforcement personnel upon the recommendation of the sheriff."
SOUTH CAROLINA:SB 1199 Introduced 4/27/04.
This is Gated Community bill. It would add a section to the Code of Laws of South Carolina to provide that a process server may effect service on a person residing in a gate community without being denied entry by a person guarding the gate providing the process server 1) provides picture identification; and 2) provides the judicial document for review. The person guarding the entrance may be found in contempt of court if he refuses to allow entry after the process server has met the above requirements.
VIRGINIA: This is an interesting bill pertaining to sheriffs fees for serving process. It was signed by the Governor on 3/29/04. It keeps the fee for serving civil process at $12, but it ups the service fee for papers returnable out of state from $50 to $75. States that have higher fees for serving out-of-state process are no dummies. They have a pretty good idea of the true cost of serving a paper, which is why they up the fee. Nobody in-state is going to get exercised over what the out-of-state lawyers are being charged.
