Evasion: an overview

On the other end of the defendant who accepts their papers without question is the evasive defendant. There's a number of different ways that someone can evade service of process, and there's a number of different ways to attempt to serve them. What's most important is knowing what you're getting into, and staying safe.

I'm all for a good talk. If someone opens the door I can usually convince them to take the papers, and, if they "want to see them first" well, they've done my job for me. The real issue is the defendant who yells through the door (and doesn't call the cops, if you've been following things up to now). What I really enjoy about the job is that at this point, when you get the "who is it?!!" you generally have to go by gut reaction as to what you do next.

I'm not very good at trickery, but I can talk a good game. Some servers have been known to play the "Ohh, does Ms. X still live here?" with that inflection. But there are two things I do. One is to ask for the person, in the plain Jane "does X live here?" question. But this is dependent on your intuition. Sometimes you'll get an answer and are able to serve/subserve the person living there, or you can begin talking your way to an inevitable serve. The other trick is to play hard of hearing and knock again. Knocking again works best for someone who isn't necessarily expecting you or isn't confrontational. Once they open the door, your success ratio is going to go up.

Now, let's say that Mr./Ms./Mrs. X is not home. but you are able to subserve. Here is when you want to read whether they know what's going on. If not, all is well! usually I play the you totally want what I have, and I'm going to be nice enough to give it to you route.

"hi, is Mr. X here"
"no"
"oh, ok, sorry to bug you, I have some documents for him, but I can leave them with you... do you live with here?"
"yes I do"
"oh, ok, I just need your name and I can give them to you." (keep the niceguy apologetic tone)
"Jane Doe"
"Ok, you're his wife?"
"sister"
"ahh, ok. that's fine, here you go *hand over papers*... Sorry to bug you... have a nice day"

Notice the 2 apologies. Compliments and apologies are the best way, for me at least, to keep away from getting too confrontational. Remember, the process server is just the messenger, and he puts himself into an awkward situation. Being apologetic is often your best way to get the papers over and getting the heck out of there.

But what about people that don't answer? In all honesty, I'm still developing these skills. For me there's an experimentation with multiple attempts -you might get someone else, say a naive 18 year old son or daugther- or they might just give up the evasion route and take the papers. But some people will never answer the door, or they will insult or ridicule you through the door (or worse). That's what affidavits of evasion are all about. For me, they pay nothing, but risking my hide for a serve is NOT what I went to law school for. I move on, sometimes it's not easy, especially when someone tries to push you around, but I'm not there to prove how tough I am, instead I do a job as best as I can without risking my safety.