tERMS OF sERVICE

PROFESSIONAL SERVICE & RISK MANAGEMENT DISCLOSURE

OUR ROLE: LITIGATION SUPPORT — NOT LEGAL ADVICE

Our firm provides professional process-serving and litigation-support services. We are engaged to locate parties, deliver legal documents, document the circumstances of service, and provide accurate and timely service documentation to the retaining attorney or client.

We do not provide legal advice, legal opinions, or interpretations of legal documents.

A process server is not a substitute for an attorney. While we can identify the general nature of documents being served—such as a summons, complaint, subpoena, petition, motion, notice, or other legal proceeding—we do not interpret the legal meaning of those documents or advise a recipient concerning what they should do in response.

That includes questions concerning legal rights, defenses, deadlines, court procedures, whether a person is required to respond, how a person should respond, or the potential consequences of failing to respond. Those are legal questions that should be addressed by an attorney.

This is more than a formality. Providing legal advice outside the scope of a process server's role creates unnecessary risk for everyone involved. It can lead to misunderstandings, allegations of unauthorized practice of law, disputes concerning what was communicated during service, and questions about the validity or integrity of the service itself.

Our policy is straightforward: we serve the documents; we do not interpret them.

AFFIDAVITS, RETURNS & PROOFS OF SERVICE — CLIENT/COUNSEL RESPONSIBILITY

As part of our litigation-support services, we document the results of service attempts and provide the appropriate service documentation to the retaining attorney or client.

We do not file affidavits, returns, proofs of service, or non-service with the court on behalf of the client.

The decision to file a return or affidavit—and determining what must be filed, where it must be filed, when it must be filed, and whether additional filings or notices are required—is ultimately a case-management and legal responsibility.

Those decisions properly belong with the attorney handling the matter or, in a pro se case, the party responsible for the litigation.

Once our service documentation has been delivered, counsel or the client can review the document in the context of the case and make the appropriate filing decision.

WHY WE DO NOT ASSUME COURT-FILING LIABILITY

A process server offering to file an affidavit or return of service may appear to be providing an additional convenience. From a risk-management standpoint, however, that convenience can create problems that extend well beyond the actual act of filing a document.

Court filing requirements are not necessarily uniform. Requirements can differ based upon the jurisdiction, court, type of proceeding, method of service, procedural posture of the case, applicable rules, and specific instructions issued by the court.

A process server generally does not have the same knowledge of the overall litigation that the attorney handling the case possesses. We may know exactly how, when, where, and upon whom service occurred, but we may not know what additional procedural events have occurred in the case, whether opposing counsel has filed something, whether a deadline has been extended, whether the court has issued a special order, or whether counsel intends to take a particular procedural action.

Assuming responsibility for filing under those circumstances can unnecessarily expand the process server's exposure to claims arising from matters outside the actual service assignment.

A missed filing deadline, incorrect filing location, rejected filing, improper filing method, incorrect case number, failure to include a required document, or other filing issue can potentially become a dispute over who was responsible for the resulting problem.

We do not believe a process server should assume that liability.

Our business model deliberately separates service execution from legal case management.

A CLEAR DIVISION OF RESPONSIBILITY

Our approach is designed to protect the interests of the law firm, the client, and the process server:

PROCESS SERVER

• Receives the documents and service instructions.
  
• Conducts the service assignment.
  
• Makes reasonable service attempts.
  
• Documents the circumstances of each attempt or completed service.
  
• Prepares and provides the applicable service documentation.
  
• Reports factual observations concerning service.

ATTORNEY / LAW FIRM / PRO SE PARTY

• Determines the appropriate legal strategy.
  
• Interprets the legal significance of the documents.
  
• Determines applicable filing requirements.
  
• Reviews the service documentation.
  
• Determines whether and when a return, affidavit, or proof of service should be filed.
  
• Handles court filing and case management.

This separation is intentional.

Our objective is not to insert ourselves into the practice of law. Our objective is to provide reliable, defensible, professional litigation-support services while keeping legal decisions with the professionals and parties responsible for making them.

By maintaining these boundaries, we can concentrate on what we are retained to do: locate, serve, document, and report—accurately and professionally.