| News & Articles |
| North Idaho Business Journal, February, 2006 |
| Service of Process, More Than One Would Think
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| Many people think that serving papers could be an easy way of making a fast dollar. Recent events in Kootenai County have proven otherwise. It is not as easy as one would think. Our office has served thousands of documents over the years and no serve is the same. There is a knack to it, a procedure and some simple rules to live by that keep a process server out of trouble. Trouble means gunplay, standoffs, getting locked onto properties, being run over, punched, cursed, chased on foot, chased in a vehicle. All such incidents have happened in the past few years in North Idaho. These incidents are perfectly avoidable if one is has the proper training and professionalism. There very well could be an underlying problem here in this State that allows anyone to declare themselves a Private Investigator or Process Server without a license. Ted Ponticelli alluded to this in a letter to the CDA Press last month.
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| How it Works
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| In Idaho, if you are suing someone you have to serve the defendant the papers. That is where Process Servers step in and provide that service. There are over 20 active process servers in Kootenai County, some full time most part time. They specialize in serving civil papers throughout North Idaho. You need not be present to be served. In Idaho, anyone over the age of 18 can accept papers for you at your residence.
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| Liability
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| Have you asked your process server if they are insured or not? That is an important question considering recent events in this County. Just think what could happen if you hire a server who has no insurance and gets involved in a gun play incident or any type of injury situation. The trail will follow to the largest pockets and I would bet that your pockets are the largest.
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| Avoidance
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| Avoidance is just part of the game. We run up against people who will go far out of their way to avoid service, one would bet that their life would be easier if they would just face reality. The issue will not go away because you cannot be served for two weeks. It's like father time, you can forget about it but you cannot stop it. You will save your self a lot of stress, time and energy by just taking the papers. Professional process servers are not going to give up and they already know a whole lot about you before they show up at your doorstep.
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| Most Memorable Serves
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| The baby stealer - Baby stealer was a meth head father who stole his 3 month infant during a domestic disturbance. It took us three weeks to find him. We basically put so much heat on him that he called us and met me at a parking lot to get his papers.
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| Elusive Bartender - It's a sad fact that people are uncooperative at home, they won't come to the door or they are just plain avoiding us. When that happens then we cross that line. We get them at work. One such bartender was served on a Sunday AM at her counter. This was only after the papers fell out of our server's newspaper while she was cleaning the counter. Surprise, Surprise….
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| Newspaper Lady - The newspaper lady was an older lady who was basically a hermit. After a couple of weeks trying to serve her, we determined the ONLY time she left her home was to get her morning paper. So at 0430 in the morning our server went up to the box, stapled his papers on the newspaper and waited in the bushes. Five minutes later like clock work out comes the lady. She had her papers in hand heading for the house before she knew she had been had.
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| If you're a business or a law firm it is very important to hire a competent process server. Things can go bad in a hurry out there but with the right training, those situations can be minimized and avoided. Check out your private investigator or process server, get references, and verify insurance, for Idaho does not require a license or insurance.
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| Phillip Thompson is a Vice President and Sr. Investigator for Confidential Investigations. Mr. Thompson has a business degree from Central Washington University and has been involved in investigative work and fraud detection for 8 years. He joined Confidential Investigations in 2002. Business Phone 208-762-5767.
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