Currently viewing archive for November 2012
Posted November 13, 2012 in Minutes
The minutes for the NCAPPS quarterly meetings will be posted on a private page. All current members will be emailed a url and a password and we ask that you do not share this info with anyone. If the password is ever lost or forgotten, please email the Secretary Kimberly Hamilton. Only members in good standing will have access to our private page. The 2012 Annual conference minutes have been approved and posted to the website. Look for the NCAPPS email with the information needed to access the site. Thank you, Kimberly Hamilton, NCAPPS Secretary
Posted November 10, 2012 in Information and News, Newsletters
NCAPPS will now be publishing a quarterly newsletter that will be emailed out to the General Membership.
It will include news, recent events, helpful tools, advertising and other related articles. The newsletters will be archived on the website so you will have access to all the issues in the future. Please look for it in your email very soon!!! ~~Kimberly Hamilton, NCAPPS Secretary
Posted November 8, 2012 in PAAPRS
On November 8, 2012, President Reynolds and Secretary Kimberly Hamilton attended a webinar on ServeNow’s newly launched campaign, PAAPRS. Steven Glenn discussed the goals of the campaign, how to raise awareness, how process serving associations and its members can get involved and the prevention of assaults on process servers.
Trent Carlyle asked for help from the different state associations on promoting the campaign and sending them input. They would like to hear of any assault, whether it was last week or last year, so they may show assaults are increasing and laws are needed to protect the server. They do not require a formal police report, as that is very important, but they are just collecting data to compile for the campaign. They add the assaulted server’s info to their reports and also may out the areas of assault. You can view this map on their site and click on the icon to read details of the assault.
Eleven state associations are now endorsing PAAPRS as the campaign is working on guidelines and plans for these and other associations to pass along to its members. Two states currently have legislation in place for process server protection, they are Illinois and California. Several others have legislation in progress: New York, Indiana, Florida and Arizona.
With regarding legislation, the campaign will track and promote protective legislation, provide a resource for lawmakers, and collect all the data from state laws for other states to use as guidelines. The ultimate goal is protecting the server as much as possible and making it a felony when a process server is assaulted.
Reports of servers being shot, shot at, chased and physically assaulted are already on record. Other issues arise as well such as dealing with law enforcement. Servers have reported that they were threatened with arrest for trespassing when attempting to serve court documents. Education is going to be a key factor in all states in order to gain protection for our profession.
Getting involved is the best way to be a part of the campaign. There is an online petition to sign to make an assault on a process server a felony in every state. Promoting the campaign via social media and email, embedding their badge on websites and informing clients and other servers are all ways to create awareness. If anyone has been assaulted in the past and filed a police report, regardless of the date, please submit the info to PAAPRS.
Suggestions are welcome by ServeNow and the link is:http://www.serve-now.com/resources/paaprs. The reporting of an assault is extremely important to show lawmakers these assaults are occurring on process servers and legislation needs changed. The more collected data available, the better the case will be.
Posted November 8, 2012 in Information and News
By President Ruth Reynolds
On October 13th l attended the Colorado Associations First Annual Conference and was
very impressed with the speakers and the knowledge that l obtained from my fellow process
servers in Colorado.
As l travel and speak with other associations and process servers across the country, I find we all have the same or similar issues, such as the struggles to gain access to gated communities and protection from assaults.
Also, respect for the job that we do for the courts and seeing that due process of law is completed in a timely and professional manner is often non-existent.
We all work hard to be good at our jobs and help to create employment for others. Training is paramount in our profession. Knowing how to protect ourselves while completing our assignments is a must. We all want to go home to our families at the end of the day.
WE as process servers should support our fellow associations and the national association. WE are stronger in numbers.
The speakers at the meeting were very diverse some subjects were:
protecting and following the rules on subcontractors,
effecting services at hospitals,
completing tough services,
handling contact with local law enforcement,
reporting process server assaults,
online marketing
devices available covertly documenting service
and much more open discussion on topics of interest.
I was honored to be invited to speak on the role the NAPPS plays in education and support for all process servers. It was a great opportunity to promote NAPPS and state associations.
I would encourage you to become members of other state associations. Where do you think they go when looking for a process server in your state and they will pick someone that has support their association?
Great networking and always good information shared through the newsletters and blogs! Join the ranks of the professionals!
Posted November 2, 2012 in Registration
Currently, NC does not require process servers within the state to be licensed or registered. Only 7 states, (Alaska, Arizona, California, Illinois, Montana, Nevada and Oklahoma) require a license to serve process. Many more states require their servers to be registered with the state, but not necessarily be licensed.
North Carolina does not require either and states in Rule 4 “In this State, such proper person shall be the sheriff of the county where service is to be made or some other person duly authorized by law to serve summons. Outside this State, such proper person shall be anyone who is not a party and is not less than 21 years of age or anyone duly authorized to serve summons by the law of the place where service is to be made.”
Attorneys, other servers, and courts outside of NC often ask about registration numbers when sending documents to be served in NC. This raises many issues and one goal of our association is move towards the registration of anyone who serves process. The registration is beneficial in ways to help protect the server, the client, and the entity being served. It will raise the standards for our profession and keep servers accountable for their actions and practices.
Certain states require that process servers be authorized to serve within that state. The only answer from a NC server should be “No, I am not authorized”. The client will have to take the appropriate steps in order to ensure a good serve. This means either have the server appointed in the originating state or send the documents to the Sheriff’s department first.
When a NC server is asked for a registration number, either when appointed to serve or when completing an affidavit, “NA in NC” seems to the most used response. This suffices with many courts and attorneys, but occasionally it does raise a a few eyebrows. Hopefully with the strong presence and progress of our association, legislation will be changed and NC will have registered process servers.
