New York Process Server Forum

All Worked Up and Serving Sara: Process Servers At Wrong Places

June 11, 2010 on 8:19 am | In Process Servers, process service rules | 22 Comments

Judging by what has been publicized about the legal process service industry by films such as Serving Sara and cable TV reality shows such as All Worked Up, process servers are aliens from outer space seeking to endure pain and suffering.

After watching the 2002 film Serving Sara, starring Matthew Perry, a romantic comedy about a disoriented process server who falls in love with the recipient of a divorce summons, I wonder where Hollywood directors get ideas to make crappy films like this. It appears that the consultant who guided the producer for this parody misdirected him repeatedly in terms of how process serving is effected. Indeed, the director of said film portrays Mr. Perry as a process server serving papers but puts him in scenes where he acts more like a clown than as a process server. Then again you might say: “It’s a comedy! It’s a parody of the job!”

Well this parody resembles a drama when we learn that the star of the film has no other choice in life but to work as a process server, making silly maneuvers in order to serve papers on evasive defendants such as a Mafia Kingpin he meets at the start of the movie. Eventually comes Sara who turns out to be just another evasive defendant, an elusive divorcee who by the end falls in love with the process server himself or should we say “the big time loser” who is attempting to serve her with divorce petition from her current husband?

On truTV, I have watched Byran McElderry, another process server in New York City on a new reality show called All Worked Up, doing everything possible in order to get assaulted, attacked or berated by the people he intends to serve. The strange part is that McElderry, who claims to be a Bronx process server with 20 years on the legal business, behave about 99% of the time as an actor and perhaps 1% of the time as an actual process server during the show.

McElderry, who coincidentally has a voice for radio announcer, gets locked up on a building roof top allegedly while chasing a slum landlord whom he intended to serve. On another senseless scene, while serving a child support petition in Queens, New York, he argues with a respondent whose dog McElderry fed with his breakfast-a sandwich- in order to allegedly calm it down. Though the dog definitely does not look threatening, the process server attempts to imply that if he feeds the dog he will gain access to the premises. If this is not an attempt to create comedy what else could it be? Reality? It is not. In real life process servers don’t act like these “actors”. How stupid can producers be? I wonder how many viewers will regard process service after taking a look at All Worked Up.

Indeed, here’s a hint about how ignorant the producers are, in their own words, at truetv.com, where they claim that: “His (McElderry’s) job is doubly hard due to the fact that McElderry has to issue papers face-to-face. Without physically putting the papers into a defendant’s hands the documents don’t count as served”Nothing is further from the truth.Haven’t they heard about substituted service, service by mail or service of process by nail and mail. For instance, in the case of the tenants against the landlord, substituted service would suffice.

In reality (People from TruTV, listen up!), process servers must avoid confrontation or getting “physical” with evasive defendants. Most court papers can be served without chasing the defendant or forcing him to take papers in hand. In fact in New York (where McElderry, the process-server-turned-actor comes from), divorce papers and child support petitions must be served in person but there is no need to chase defendants around. It’s enough to personally confirm the identity of the defendant and to place the papers within Defendant’s reach where Defendant is physically present. Using tricks, deception, threats, harassment and stalking is totally unacceptable under New York laws and it can lead to sanctions against the litigant who hired the process server in New York City. So no smart process server in New York City will behave like McElderry does. Indeed under rules established by New York City laws, McElderry actions constitute harassment. The litigants whom he is allegedly serving, if it was true TV, can easily file charges against him and complaints for his antics and unprofessional conduct. But then again, let’s not forget:it is just a show. Probably even the alleged recipients of process are also paid actors too.

For those who have not been process servers and who enjoy the above shows, I must inform you the truth behind the industry. First of all process servers in New York and any other place in United States are trained to avoid hassles. When service of process is effected, there is very little talk between defendants and the person serving legal papers. In fact smart process servers tend to only ask the required basic information from the persons served: Name, military status, age, position and place of abode. So the real life process servers will quietly and politely just ask a few questions and leave the scene ASAP. If the respondent does not answer his questions, the process server will just leave. But McElderry won’t.

There is no such thing as a process server running after people who must be served. That does not work in this industry! If the process server meets an evasive defendant who chooses to argue or to run, the process server must not reciprocate. For elusive recipients, the process servers must just drop the court papers within the Defendant’s reach and LEAVE. If this is not an option, then the process server must use other steps to counter evasion of service such as a reporting it to the court (Affidavit of due diligence).

In summary the TV and film depictions of process servers doing unusual efforts to serve evasive or loud respondents are simply not a reflection of reality. Those antics are a far cry from what they taught me at my job as a process server at www.subpoenadelivery.com. So don’t believe that the above shows are good reality TV. They are just comedy attempts filled with actors intended to get you to laugh. Like the old saying goes: don’t believe everything you see in the Big Screen or the Little Screen.