Delinquent Debt Lawsuits Keeping Process Servers Busy

In Las Vegas, Nevada, KLAS-TV Channel 8 reports:

• With foreclosures at an all time high in Nevada, those who serve foreclosure notices have been busier than ever. In some cases, letting people know they are about to lose their homes has turned into a dangerous job for process servers.

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• [Norma] McMahan runs a legal process service that serves people with legal notices -- a job that isn't getting any easier, "It's all having to do with collections, people losing their homes, people losing their vehicles, people who can not make ends meet." Hard times are keeping her servers busier than ever, "Before all this happened, I rarely saw a foreclosure. We didn't see them very often, in all honesty."(1)

For more, see Busy Times for Las Vegas Process Servers (read text) (watch video).

(1) This story should serve as a reminder to foreclosure defense attorneys to carefully scrutinize the affidavits of service that process servers file in connection with foreclosure actions. It's not unreasonable to believe that the busier the process servers are, the more screw-ups there will be in serving the court papers. Process servers and foreclosing lenders' attorneys may fail in exercising the required diligence necessary to find and serve defendants before resorting to the use of service by publication, or the "nail & mail" approach (where allowable). They may also take the lazy approach to serving unknown occupants in a property subject to foreclosure by simply identifying them as John and Jane Doe without exercising the appropriate level of diligence in attempts to ascertain the occupants' true names. See, for example,

• Lack Of Diligence Means Another Process Server Screw-Up, Another Void Foreclosure (improper use of service by publication);
• B'klyn Foreclosure Sale Set Aside, Judgment Vacated As Process Server Screw-Up Leaves Court With No Personal Jurisdiction Over Defaulting House Owner (improper use of "nail & mail" service);
• NY Court Denies Tenant Eviction After Foreclosure Sale; Failure To Name, Serve All Occupants As Parties In Foreclosure Action Fatal To Removal Attempt (failure to serve all occupants, including 12 year old child);
• Failure To Name Tenant In Home Foreclosure Action Thwarts Subsequent Eviction Attempt; Use Of "John Doe" Alias Ruled Ineffective Absent Due Diligence (improperly identifying unknown tenant as "John Doe" without first establishing that a genuine effort was made to ascertain the name of the party but has been unable to do so);
• John & Jane Doe Lawsuits Prohibited In Connecticut? (court ruled that, unlike other states, Connecticut has no statute permitting the use of "John Doe" identification for an unknown defendant).

Further, to the extent there may be any unscrupulous process servers, the chances of "sewer service" taking place goes up. Go here for posts on process server screw ups. foreclosure faulty notice ScrewUpProcessServing