Process servers play an incredibly important yet often underappreciated job within our country’s legal system. It is a law in all fifty states that a defendant involved in any lawsuit receive proper notice of the impending case, and it is largely the responsibility of process servers to deliver such notices in a legally recognized manner. This means that process servers are very often the people who deliver bad, stressful, and unwanted news to countless Americans. Some recipients react with fear, others with desperation, and still some with violence and anger. This places process servers on the front lines of the law, face to face with people who often react in dangerous and unpredictable ways.
Local West Palm Beach process server Leroy Masters knows this well. As a process server for nine years, Masters serves more than 20 people on any given day, which equates to 20 daily deliveries of divorce, lawsuit, foreclosure, and subpoena documents. It’s always difficult to predict how recipients will react to bad news landing on their doorstep, especially since many are inclined to “shoot the messenger,” sometimes literally.
“A gentleman came to the door with a gun, his wife was screaming behind him. The next thing I said to him was ‘Sir, I did not come here this morning to be killed. I’m just here to deliver a document.’” Based on this experience and many others, Masters insists that compassion is one of the most important components of being an excellent process server.
“The more compassionate we are with the things that must be done, the better it is for the person.” This is especially true for recipients who are confused by the process, unsure of how to handle their papers, or upset at what is happening. Though process servers aren’t attorneys or trained to give legal advice, the simple act of expressing sympathy and understanding can help a person feel less scared with the situation.
The expert process servers at Accurate Serve Sarasota echo Masters’ thoughts and work every day to combine their knowledge of service of process with compassion for the people they serve. The accredited process servers at Accurate Serve have been meeting the needs of legal professionals and individuals since 2009, so contact them at 941-893-9991 to see how they can help you.
