NOVEMBER 9, 2009-
Rash Of Thefts Plague Travis County Courts
In the past several weeks, numerous citations have gone missing from the clerk's desks and
pick up boxes at the Travis County Courthouse. Clerk's have "tightened up security" in an
effort to prevent what has become a serious problem for process servers and the attorneys
who hire them.
According to a deputy clerk, someone has been taking citations and other notices from pick
up boxes and, in some cases, right off the desks of the clerks. In the Travis County District
Clerk's office, it is required that the process be signed for when picked up and whoever is
taking the process is not doing so.
There are two possible reasons why this happens. Evidently, the person or persons who
are doing this are newly certified process servers. It may be that these novice servers have
been led to believe that once you are certified, you just show up at the courthouse and start
picking up papers. Or, more concerning, someone is intentionally stealing papers. The fact
that no one is signing out for them may be an indication that theft is the motive.
I, myself, was the victim recently. I was having trouble locating a citation at the clerk's office.
The clerk's record shows that the citation was issued days prior. When I checked with the
client, they said they had already received a return, but, wanted to know why they got a bill
from another process service company. I looked into it and, sure enough, I had been the
victim of what may have been "process theft." The client refused to pay the other company
and I was cheated out of a service fee. Even if unintentional, I lost and they worked for free.
HERE IS THE BEST PRACTICES SOLUTION:
When receiving process from the clerk's office, if the attorney or law firm is not recognized
as a current and/or recent client, just make a simple call to the law firm and confirm that they
intended for you to receive the paper. Aside from the recent problems at the courthouse in
Travis County, there will always be a certain percentage of unintended mistakes. Clerks
have been known to put process in the wrong server's box and servers have accidentally
pulled from the wrong box or signed out for the wrong paper. I have even had some
unrelated paper get hooked by paper clip onto the back of a paper intended for me. I
promptly returned it to the clerk, but, it fell into that category of human error, not intentional
throat-cutting.
As private process servers, though we are competitors, we are all performing the same
service to the legal community. The overall health of our relationship with the legal
community is contingent on the level of integrity and professionalism we display as a group.
While it is important for each of us to build our customer base, everyone benefits when
attorneys choose us (the private sector) over service by the sheriff or constable. I find it
important to remember that my "real" competitor is the government. Even so, I would extend
the same best practices courtesy to them as well.
Story by:
Tod Pendergrass
Editor, Texas Process Watch
Please see a related story regarding a flood of new competition