DECEMBER 4, 2009-
TPSA LEADERS TARGET FORMER POLICE OFFICER WITH
INACCURATE COMPLAINT; TRAVEL EXPENSES AND
ATTORNEY FEES RESULT
On September 2, 2009, Ms. Dana Lehman with Alto Mesa Legal Service, Inc. swore out a
complaint against Mr. Jimmy Newsom, a process server in New Braunfels, Texas, and
filed it with the Process Server Review Board. On December 4, 2009, the PSRB heard
the complaint and took testimony from Mr. Newsom who traveled to Austin and appeared
with his attorney.
The complaint alleges several violations of crimes that Mr. Newsom has never been
charged. Mr. Newsom testified that he did not knowingly or intentionally commit any crime
or violation and that this was simply a matter of a competitor trying to steal his business.
After hearing testimony from Mr. Newsom and arguments by his attorney, the Board
dismissed the complaint; Ms. Lehman was not present.
As it turns out, Mr. Newsom may be right. According to Ms. Lehman, she states in her
sworn complaint that,
"Knowing all process servers must be certified through the
Supreme Court and all numbers issued through the Supreme Court are either SC
or SCH, the TSC did not look right to me so when I got back to my office, I began looking
on the Supreme Court Website for current certification information. When I looked up the
name first and did not find the name Jimmy Newsome, so I did a complete search for the
number 1582 and still did not find anything."
It's common knowledge that certification is NOT mandatory and is just
one way for a private citizen to serve process in Texas. There are at least 8 different
ways any non-party adult can deliver court documents in Texas without being certified by
the Supreme Court. Proof of this is established by the fact that the PSRB dismissed Mr.
Lehman's complaint for the simple reason that Mr. Newsom is not certified and the PSRB
has absolutely no authority over him. The returns of service attached to Ms. Lehman's
complaint are irrelevant as all parties served by Mr. Newsom have appeared and
answered and no one else is complaining about Mr. Newsom's work. Ironically, Mr.
Lehman's claim demonstrates that she doesn't even understand one of the most basic
rules relevant to our industry, Rule 103, TRCP. This is the rule that actually establishes
who may serve process in Texas and it is the very first rule covered in most training
courses; training courses like the one sold by Ms. Lehman's association. Maybe she is
the one who needs more training.
More interesting is the fact that Ms. Lehman is also the Secretary for the Texas Process
Servers Association; a group whose leaders have long sought statewide licensing and
regulation for the industry. Before certification, all efforts by TPSA leaders in the past
have been to establish regulation that would be mandatory (about which Ms. Lehman is
apparently confused.) Such mandatory licensing would have made it a crime to practice
without a license. It is hard to understand how an officer of a trade association could
possibly be so wrong about such a basic industry fact. There is, of course, one other
possibility... could this misinformation have been intentional in order to steal clients, as Mr.
Newsom suggests?
But, wait, it gets more interesting...
Ms. Lehman also admits in her complaint that,
"On August 26, 2009, I contacted several other TPSA board
members regarding what to do with this information."
The official reply from the TPSA leadership was to move forward with submitting the
complaint to the PSRB. But, the PSRB is also empaneled with several of the TPSA's
leadership including West Texas area director, Mr. Justiss Rasberry, the former TPSA
president, Chairman Carl Weeks, and the immediate past president of the TPSA and long
time officer and founding director, Mr. Lee Russell. So we have a TPSA officer consulting
with other TPSA officers about instigating a complaint against a non-TPSA member based
on erroneous information that was filed with a board that is empanelled with more TPSA
leaders. Does anyone else see a problem here? I mean, aside from the misinformation
about being certified. Anyone???
Despite the fact that the Texas Legislature has refused to pass regulation that would
make licensing (certification) mandatory, it apparently hasn't stopped the wishful thinkers
from acting as if it had. This reckless behavior is not only damaging, it makes us all look
bad and is reflective of an attitude that has been adopted by some of the more hard core
proponents for full-blown industry regulation. Some, it seems, are willing to try and crush
and destroy anyone who doesn't agree to "drink the Kool-Aid" and go along with the
program.
Mr. Newsome claims that Ms. Lehman's actions have caused him to lose business and at
least one of his blanket orders; a blanket order that he obtained many years before
certification even existed and one that he relied upon for a certain percentage of his
income. That is now gone and so is the money he had to pull from his pocket to defend
himself against what appears to be little more than a politically motivated attack. No word
yet on whether or not Mr. Newsom will be filing a civil lawsuit for liable, slander,
defamation of character, egregious interference with a business relationship or some
other legal action. It is truly shameful that Mr. Newsom is having to even consider such
actions in order to defend himself from an unwarranted and unprovoked attack by people
with whom he has chosen not to associate.
I say WITCH HUNT!
Story by:
Tod E. Pendergrass
Editor, Texas Process Watch
Editor's note:
Mr. Jimmy Newsome founded RJM Investigative Services in 1997. Prior to RJM, Mr.
Newsom served as an Assistant Vice President in the Claimant and Provider Fraud
Department of the Texas Workers' Compensation Insurance Fund. He also possess over
25 years of law enforcement experience including homicide, sexual assault, narcotics, and
white collar fraud. Jimmy has a BA degree in Criminal Justice and is a provider of
workers' compensation continuing education accredited by the Texas Department of
Insurance. The staff of RJM Investigative Services has offices in Dallas, Houston, Austin,
San Antonio and New Braunfels, and investigates cases statewide.