Process servers and other civil servants have entered the month of November with a bit of extra protection to their names. On November 1, Governor Andrew Cuomo’s bill to protect process servers from assault went into official effect. New York joined three other states, California, Florida, and Illinois, to take specific measures to protect vulnerable workers. Workers who clean public transportation states and utility workers are also included in the bill. Now an attack on any such person is not a misdemeanor, but a class D felony subject to up to seven years in prison.
In an August press release after he signed the bill into law, Governor Cuomo explained, “These workers perform tasks that are vital to the operation of New York institutions and have increasingly become the targets of aggression and assaults. Signing these measures into law will help better protect these employees from harm and I thank the sponsors for their work to get them passed.”
Senator Catharine Young further emphasized the importance of this legislation change by stating, “Process servers play an important role in our justice system. It is reprehensible that someone would intentionally injure a process server simply for conducting the business of the courts and citizens of New York State. This new protection will elevate repercussions for those who harm process servers, keeping New Yorkers safe.”
Violence against process servers is well documented in the news. Process servers around the country have been victims of violent crimes simply for being the messenger of bad news. Recipients of legal papers have shot weapons, released their animals to attack, and used physical force to retaliate against process servers. It is terrible, but unfortunately not uncommon, which is why Governor Cuomo felt so strongly about stripping leniency away from men and women who direct their anger and fear at process servers.
Given the high prevalence of crimes against process servers around the United States, the process serving community in general hopes that New York’s law will encourage other states to become equally as unforgiving toward men and women who “shoot the messenger.”
