I’ve had a few process servers chasing me (my company) for a bogus lawsuit. I now have surveillance cameras on my house. Well, today I was not home and this process server stops by. I got her on camera taking my USPS mail out of my box, rifling through it, and putting it back in the box. I know this is NOT legal, but how should I go about getting her in trouble for this while still not giving her easy opp to serve me? Does the USPS take this kind of crime seriously? I know who this process server is because she’s dumb enough to call my house with her own name and has her own private business website! Thanks for any good ideas. I’d love to get these jerks, or at least use this footage to help my case if/when I go to court.
Forgot to add, on the tape you can’t tell if she has actually STOLEN my mail as she holds it with other papers in her hands. To the guy telling me that I’m unethical – go away. You don’t know the first thing about it and you are defending someone who tampers with other’s mail?!
WHY are some in the legal forum so ill informed and obnoxious and hostile? Two different attornies that I’ve PAID have advise me to avoid service on this suit. It’s from out of state and it’s simply a bear. Again, that wasn’t the SUBJECT of this post. It was about this server committing a crime and how I might best be able to get her prosecuted.
AGAIN for the ill-informed and ignorant. Willfully or not willfully avoiding process on a civil suit is NOT I repeat NOT a crime in any way shape or form. Mail theft IS a crime.
You have film evidence. Report the person to the United States Postal Inspection Service. Tampering with the mail is a federal criminal offense and the excuse of serving a civil summons does not justify it.
If this person is willing to violate federal law to serve a summons then they are likely also willing to violate other laws regarding identity theft or fraud. This should be stopped.
Call the postal inspector. I believe he’s just committed a federal crime.
Go to your local post office, and ask for the postal inspector and file a complaint.
Running from a process server is an ignorant move. You are simply delaying the inevitable and increasing the costs you will pay in the end.
If they are unable to server you personally, some states will allow them to server you by publication. If you don’t read the legal notices you will miss your own lawsuit and lose by default.
If you accept the summons you can defend yourself and move on.
I for one would never do business with any company that is willing to play the games you are playing. The press can be very cruel indeed.
To answer the question you asked, yes you can turn them in to the postal inspector and they can be charged with a crime. They will of course have the papers served on you when you are subpoenaed for that case.
1) It is illegal. However, the decision to prosecute or not lies solely with the USPS Inspectors office. If she didn’t take anything, they will not prosecute.
2) Dodging service is entirely counterproductive. In ALL States, after a certain number of attempts to serve you in person, she can serve you by mail, or by publication in the newspaper.
What she charges the plaintiff for each failed attempt, and then for the mailed service or the newspaper ad, is legally allowed to be added to the original debt. Many servers charge a flat rate for a single service attempt and then an hourly rate from then on. I have seen numerous cases where the defendant dodged service for so long that the servers fees were more than the original lawsuit. I even remember one case where the court held that the original breach of contract was de minimus, and awarded the plaintiff only $1 in actual damages – and over $500 in fees and process servers charges.
The court is also allowed to take notice of your attempts to avoid service as evidence that you owe the money – a person who does not owe money has no reason not to want to have his day in court and prove it.
"I know who this process server is because she’s dumb enough to call my house with her own name and has her own private business website!"
Why is that dumb? She has no reason to try to hide from you the fact that she’s trying to serve papers. Just the opposite – many people do exactly what you are doing when they find out someone is trying to serve them, and the longer it takes her to serve you, the more she gets to charge. Unlike the movies, no process server EVER ‘sneaks up on’ a person to be served. Process servers LOVE IT when you dodge them. Every time she comes to your home and you don’t let her in – ‘ka-ching!’ – another charge for a failed attempt to serve you.
Richard
I know the purpose of your post is to solicit responses about prosecuting the process server. However, I can’t avoid the basis of why the process server is “rifling through your mail.” You are an evasive defendant! Yu are trying to wiggle out of a lawsuit that most likely will not go away…. that said, the Process Server is prohibited from touching / going through your mail box… I would urge you to find out what governing body the process server is licensed by and report the process server to the licensing administrator….. at minimum the process server should loose her license when you present your complaint and evidence. Overall, the process server is stupid and you are acting like a jerk for evading a legal proceeding.
Dont waste your time or energy trying to pursue the issue with the postal service. Id always been taught that tampering with the mail was a serious offense too. My ex-wife stole my passport AND filed a false change of address form for me diverting all my mail to a PO box so she could intercept confidential attorney client information. At the advice of my attorney, I jumped through the hoops of filing the formal complaint with the US postal law enforcement agency and I called the State Department to report the stolen passport. My attorney made it sound like such a big deal….”Post 911, zero tolerance” etc…. Nothing! Thats the response I got from both agencies. The fact of the matter is, we’re broke. None of those government agencies have the funds, resources or initiative to even investigate things as trivial as stolen passports or mail. Sure, its against the law, but the laws just keep us honest people honest.