DIFFICULT SERVICE OF PROCESS: Requiring a Licensed Investigator

 

DIFFICULT SERVICE OF PROCESS

Requiring a Licensed Investigator

Randall Alexander

Legal Investigator

April 1, 2025

INTRODUCTION

Service of process is traditionally handled by individual registered process servers and attorney document services.  Generally, they offer affordability, often $150 for three attempts by relying on bulk workload where the process server will have numerous cases to attempt service every day. While a registered process server’s role is pretty clearly defined, it is also limited. Their brevity at each stop-and-knock location when attempting to complete service is frequently hit or miss. 

 Ring door technology has created an additional obstacle for the traditional process server where the defendant/subject can now avoid service by remotely screening who is at their door.

Under these circumstances, a law firm may resort to contracting a licensed investigator to complete a “Difficult Service of Process”.   

 HIRING AN INVESTIGATOR

One problem encountered when being asked what an investigator charges for Service of Process is the attorney may have an unrealistic expectation of cost, assuming that licensed investigators will charge similarly to an attorney service.  It usually requires a detailed explanation based on our professional knowledge and experience, so the attorney / client understands the potential costs BEFORE engaging an investigator.

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Difficult Service of Process

CALIFORNIA COHABITATION INVESTIGATIONS

 

COHABITATION INVESTIGATIONS

Family Law Litigation

10-30-2020

Randall Alexander

Licensed Investigator / Paralegal

I was in Family Law Litigation course in college when I was given a fact pattern to research and determine if there was codified law or case law to support a modification for alimony based on a reduced need due to cohabitation. Little did I know, I would become an investigator after college and utilize these many legal lessons I learned in my business practice.  

 Modification of Spousal Support or alimony is a common area of contentious litigation, where investigators are brought in to establish evidence in support of their client’s litigated matter. 

 In Family Law litigation, Cohabitation Investigations can be financially beneficial for the client in the form of reduced or terminated support … IF the facts and evidence support the client’s assertion. 

 Strangely enough, cohabitation cases have frequently resulted in a disconnect between attorneys and investigators due to poor litigation results, while at the same time futilely expending the client’s financial resources.  Which raises the question … why?

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California Cohabitation Investigations

US Supreme Court upholds civil forfeiture without immediate hearing

 

US Supreme Court upholds civil forfeiture without immediate hearing
Jurist News
Gijs de Bra
Cornell Law School, US
May 10, 2024 01:38:50 pm

The US Supreme Court decided Thursday that police officers may continue to seize cars that defendants allegedly use to commit a crime, without an immediate hearing. States often allow that kind of seizure—known as civil forfeiture—when officers believe that the car is connected to a crime in which the owner is not involved.

Justice Kavanaugh, writing for the majority, noted that the constitutional right to due process depends on the circumstances. States cannot take real property without a prior hearing, but personal property is different because it could be hidden before a hearing takes place. So when police officers seize cars, the owner only has a right to a timely hearing after the seizure, and not a prompt one, according to the Court.

The car owners in this case had argued that due process does give them a right to a prompt hearing under Mathews v. Eldridge. 

 In that case, the Court created a test that balances the ...

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Scammers flood US class action settlements with fraudulent claims

Reuters

By Diana Novak Jones

May 2, 2024

 

Artsana, a maker of child car booster seats, last year agreed to settle claims that it had misled customers about how to use its products, offering $50 to people who had bought Chicco-brand seats.

 

The company, which did not admit wrongdoing in the settlement, knew it sold roughly 875,000 such seats, yet court records show that by the end of October it had received more than 3.3 million claims for payment.

 

Faced with a wave of questionable claims, Artsana reversed itself and urged the court not to approve the settlement it had negotiated to end the litigation.

 

“Criminals targeted the claims process in this case using ....

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California’s Riverside County deputy, 14 others arrested in drug trafficking bust

 

 

California’s Riverside County deputy, 14 others arrested in drug trafficking bust 

Karen Garcia 

Los Angeles Times

April 28, 2024

 

Culminating a yearlong investigation dubbed “Hotline Bling,” authorities in Riverside County have seized millions of dollars worth of illegal drugs and arrested 15 people suspected of helping a Sinaloa, Mexico, cartel’s drug trafficking network, including a Riverside County Sheriff’s deputy.

 

In collaboration with the Riverside Police Department and the United States Postal Service, federal Drug Enforcement Administration agents seized 376 pounds of methamphetamine, 37.4 pounds of fentanyl, 600,000 fentanyl tablets, 1.4 kilograms of cocaine and seven firearms, according to a police report.

 

The drugs, which could have supplied the ingredients for 10 million lethal doses, have an estimated value of $16 million, according to the report.

 

“As fentanyl and methamphetamine continue to ravage our communities, we ....

 

 

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Practical Advice Regarding FTC’s Non-Compete Ban for Employers

 

Practical Advice Regarding FTC’s Non-Compete Ban for Employers
The National Law Review
by: Labor and Employment Practice Group of Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP
April 25, 2024

By now, everyone knows that the FTC issued a final rule that would ban all noncompete agreements entered into after the effective date.
Effective Date of FTC Ban
The FTC’s noncompete ban is not in effect yet. It does not become effective until 120 days after the date the final rule is published in the Federal Register. The Federal Register is expected to publish the final rule next week, likely making the effective date around the beginning of September 2024.

Existing Legal Challenges to Ban
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has already filed a challenge to the noncompete ban (Chamber of Commerce of the United States of America v. Federal Trade Commission, Case No. 6:24-cv-00148 (E.D. Tex. filed April 24, 2024)). There has been another legal challenge filed as well. We don’t know whether these legal challenges will be successful, but we will provide updates when we know more.

Five Things To Do to Prepare
If the legal challenges are not successful and the rule goes into effect (again, approximately early September 2024), here are steps that employers can take to get ready:

1.    Review existing noncompete agreements to see if .....

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NDAs to Suppress Negative Online Reviews Violates Federal Consumer Review Fairness Act

 

Medical Clinic’s Use of NDAs to Suppress Negative Online Reviews Violates Federal Consumer Review Fairness Act, Washington Federal Judge Finds
by: Eric J. Neiman of Epstein Becker & Green, P.C.
The National Law Review
April 26, 2024

Negative online reviews are a concern for many businesses—but they present a unique challenge for healthcare providers, who are restricted by federal and state privacy laws in how to respond. Is the answer to have patients sign a form agreeing in advance of treatment not to make or post negative comments? According to a recent decision by a federal judge in Washington State, the approach tried by one plastic and cosmetic surgery practice runs afoul of a little-known federal law called the Consumer Review Fairness Act (“CRFA”). The case presents a cautionary tale for doctors and other providers who are looking for ways to protect their image and brand.

In this post, we look at the CRFA and how it was analyzed and applied in the federal court case, and offer takeaways from the decision that went against the medical provider. 

The CRFA
The federal CRFA, enacted in 2016, prohibits the use of gag clauses and .....

 

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