Connecticut AG: Foreclosures Might Be Void Where Unauthorized Process Servers Are Used To Deliver Legal Papers To Delinquent Homeowners

In Hartford, Connecticut, The Hartford Courant recently reported on state Attorney General Richard Blumenthal slamming some state marshals for charging inflated fees when engaged in process serving in foreclosure actions. Another issue of concern raised by the AG was whether non-marshals were being subcontracted out to deliver the legal papers on the delinquent homeowners.

• Blumenthal also said that [...] state law does not allow the use of non-marshals to deliver most legal papers,(1) comparing the practice to a police officer delegating arrest powers to a non-officer.

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• [U]nclear is whether any foreclosure actions might be in jeopardy. Blumenthal said that overcharging would not invalidate a lawsuit, but that if legal papers were served on a homeowner by someone other than the marshal who attested that the papers were delivered, then that service might be deemed defective, and that could jeopardize the underlying suit.

For the story, see Blumenthal: Some State Marshals Broke Law By Double-Billing.

(1) According to a recently-issued legal opinion by Attorney General Blumenthal:

• State statutes direct that State Marshals serve legal process without the use of indifferent persons except in narrowly defined circumstances. The sole exceptions to this general rule are for matters where there is express statutory authority for an indifferent person to make service, such as subpoenas, service of notices of lis pendens on a property owner, and service of notices to quit.

• Where there is express statutory authority (such as for service of a subpoena, service of a notice to quit, or service of a notice of lis pendens on a property owner) for use of an indifferent person to make service, the use of an indifferent person is permissible. It is not permissible under any other circumstances.

See: Connecticut AG Legal Opinion issued to Herbert J. Shepardson, Esq., Chairperson, State Marshal Commission (p.19). SewerServiceAlpha