Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: So I want you to picture this for a second. Let's say you're an attorney, okay? You are. I mean, you are deep in the trenches of a massive civil lawsuit, maybe in the 15th Judicial District Court. You've spent, I don't know, 18 months building this case, right? Everything's polished, the evidence is rock solid, and you are ready to walk into that courtroom and get a win for your client. But then you just.
You hit a wall. A huge one.
[00:00:25] Speaker B: The person you need to sue has vanished.
[00:00:28] Speaker A: Exactly. The defendant. Or, you know, maybe it's a key witness, someone whose testimony is the absolute linchpin of your whole argument, and they're just, poof, gone. And in the legal world, if you can't physically hand someone a piece of paper telling them they're being sued, the game doesn't just pause.
[00:00:46] Speaker B: No, it often ends right there. It is a complete and total deadlock, and it's way more common than people think. Which brings us to the topic for today's Deep Dive.
[00:00:55] Speaker A: Skip tracing. Skip tracing, Which I have to say, sounds like something out of a crime novel. But we're looking at the procedural reality of it today, and we've got a really interesting stack of sources, mostly from Scott Frank and his team at Lafayette Process Servers llc. We have their blogs, their legal disclaimers.
[00:01:13] Speaker B: Some methodology breakdowns and context from their Paper Trails podcast. And our mission for this deep dive is really to strip away that, you know, that Hollywood veneer. We think of finding people as this, like, dramatic thing with hacking and binoculars, but the reality is it's a mix of high level data science and some very gritty local legwork.
[00:01:32] Speaker A: And we're going to dig into why unable to locate is usually just sort of a polite way of saying, didn't look hard enough.
[00:01:37] Speaker B: Exactly. And how professionals find people who really, really don't want to be found.
[00:01:42] Speaker A: Okay, so I think the best place to start is with a misconception that, honestly, I think we all have. I'm guilty of this.
[00:01:49] Speaker B: Sure.
[00:01:50] Speaker A: If I need to find someone in 2026, I just go, I open my laptop, I type a name into Google, check Facebook, LinkedIn, and boom, I know where they are. Why isn't that enough?
[00:01:59] Speaker B: That is exactly what the industry calls the amateur trap. This reliance on what's called OSINT or open source intelligence.
And don't get me wrong, it's powerful. It's great for getting a general idea of someone's life. But our sources point out this.
This fatal flaw when you use it for legal purposes, and that is data Decay.
[00:02:19] Speaker A: Data decay. So that's just a fancy way of saying the information's old.
[00:02:22] Speaker B: Precisely. It's exactly that. I mean, think about those people. Finder websites, you know, find anyone for 9, 99 cents.
[00:02:30] Speaker A: Oh, yeah.
[00:02:30] Speaker B: The data on those sites, it's scraped from public records. Voter rolls, old property deeds, magazine subscriptions. That information tells you where someone was, right?
[00:02:40] Speaker A: If I move six months ago because I'm trying to dodge a lawsuit, I'm probably not updating my public records.
[00:02:45] Speaker B: You're definitely not. And you're certainly not posting your location on Instagram stories. So the professional skip tracer, like the team in our sources, they bypass the public Internet. They use what are called proprietary databases.
[00:02:57] Speaker A: Okay, we need to define that.
[00:02:59] Speaker B: Right?
[00:02:59] Speaker A: What is in a proprietary database that's not on Google? Is this, like, dark web stuff?
[00:03:04] Speaker B: No, not at all. But it is a restricted data environment. These are paid databases that are only available to licensed professionals. So process servers, PIs, law enforcement, and what they do is aggregate credit header data.
[00:03:19] Speaker A: Credit header data. I've heard that term, but what does it actually mean?
[00:03:22] Speaker B: It's the top part of your credit report. Just think about your own financial life. Every time you apply for a credit card or car loan or even just a new cell phone plan, you fill.
[00:03:32] Speaker A: Out a form, and on that form you put your current address, your current.
[00:03:35] Speaker B: Address, your current employer. You're telling the truth because you want the loan or you want the phone.
[00:03:40] Speaker A: Right.
[00:03:40] Speaker B: That data flows instantly into the credit bureaus. Now, skip tracers can't see your credit score or what you bought. That's private. But they can see that header, that identifying information, and it's incredibly fresh data.
[00:03:54] Speaker A: So while the public record shows where I lived in 2022, the credit editor might show where I applied for a target card yesterday.
[00:03:59] Speaker B: Exactly. And it gets even deeper. The sources say utility data is a massive game changer.
[00:04:06] Speaker A: My electric bill.
[00:04:07] Speaker B: Your electric bill. I mean, think about the logistics of trying to hide. You can delete your Facebook, you can quit your job. You can even stop talking to all your friends.
[00:04:15] Speaker A: Sure.
[00:04:16] Speaker B: But are you going to live without electricity or running water?
[00:04:20] Speaker A: Probably not, no. I mean, most people aren't going completely off grid.
[00:04:24] Speaker B: Exactly. The second you turn on the lights at a new apartment, that creates a transaction. These databases scrape that utility connection data in almost real time.
[00:04:35] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:04:35] Speaker B: So the team might see, okay, John Doe's old house is empty, But a John Doe just started an energy service at this specific address in Karen Crow two days ago.
[00:04:44] Speaker A: That's. That is wild. The infrastructure of modern Life just betrays you. You can't really participate without leaving a footprint.
[00:04:51] Speaker B: That's the perfect way to put it. It's digital exhaust. And because they're tapping into these live streams, the sources say these database searches are often done in 24 hours.
[00:04:59] Speaker A: That's a speed you just can't match on your own. Okay, but I want to push on. This data is still just numbers on a screen. It tells you where someone probably is in the legal world. Probably isn't good enough. You have to physically hand them the papers.
[00:05:15] Speaker B: And that is the crucial transition from skip tracing to process serving. The sources are very, very clear about this data alone is not enough. You need verification. You need, as they put it, boots on the ground.
[00:05:28] Speaker A: And this is where that local expertise really comes in. The sources spend a lot of time on the geography of Louisiana.
Why does the specific town matter so much if you already have the address?
[00:05:40] Speaker B: Because an address on a screen doesn't give you the context of that location. They give a great example about vacant houses, specifically in North Lafayette.
[00:05:48] Speaker A: What happens there?
[00:05:49] Speaker B: Well, a database in California might pull a record that says a house is condemned. So it'll tell you, don't bother. But a local server, they know the neighborhood. They know that vacant on paper doesn't always mean empty in real life.
[00:06:00] Speaker A: You mean people might be living there off the books?
[00:06:02] Speaker B: Exactly. A local pro drives by. They're looking for fresh trash. Bags on the curb, a bicycle in the yard, a light in the window at night. They verify reality against the data.
[00:06:14] Speaker A: You need eyes on the target.
[00:06:15] Speaker B: You need eyes and you need local knowledge. They talk about the industrial plants around Lake Charles in Calcasu Parish. This was really interesting. If you're trying to serve someone who works at a refinery, showing up from nine to five is often pointless.
[00:06:28] Speaker A: Because of shift work.
[00:06:29] Speaker B: Exactly. If they're working the night shift, their car isn't in the driveway during the day. They might be asleep at 2pm A local server understands the rhythm of that industry. They know when the shifts change. A database can't tell you that.
[00:06:43] Speaker A: That's a level of nuance I hadn't even considered. And then there's the issue of just fiscal access. The sources mentioned gated communities, places like River Ranch.
[00:06:52] Speaker B: Oh, that's a huge friction point. You can't just drive in, and if you try to sneak in, you're trespassing, which could get whole service thrown out.
[00:06:58] Speaker A: So what do they do?
[00:06:59] Speaker B: A professional knows the legal protocols to gain entry. They know which gate to go to, what paperwork to show security. It's about knowing the rules of engagement for that specific subdivision.
[00:07:10] Speaker A: The notes also make a distinction between, say, downtown Lafayette and rural Vermilion Parish.
[00:07:17] Speaker B: Right, and it's simple logistics. In the city, you can check three addresses in an hour. But out in Vermilion Parish, the driveways can be a quarter mile long. The roads might be unmarked. You're dealing with locked gates, aggressive dogs, and, you know, neighbors who are a mile away and not very talkative.
[00:07:35] Speaker A: It sounds like that verification stage is where all the time goes.
[00:07:38] Speaker B: It is. The sources say it usually takes two to three days. But that boots on the ground part is the only way to turn a likely address into a successful service.
[00:07:47] Speaker A: Let's talk about the people who are intentionally being difficult. The sources describe a specific profile for the unservable defendant.
They talk about a maze of P.O. boxes.
[00:07:57] Speaker B: Yeah, this is a classic tactic. And they mention Youngsville as a hotspot for it. A defendant routes all their mail to a PO Box. Driver's license, credit cards, everything.
[00:08:05] Speaker A: So on paper, they live at the.
[00:08:07] Speaker B: Post office, which you can't serve. You have to serve a person physically. An amateur hits that P.O. box and stops. But a professional looks at the data that can't be routed to a box.
[00:08:17] Speaker A: Back to the utilities again, always you.
[00:08:19] Speaker B: Can'T plug your TV into a P.O. box. The physical service address for water and electricity cuts right through that whole shell game. It points to the actual roof they're sleeping under.
[00:08:30] Speaker A: There's a specific success story in the notes from a family law attorney about a case in Carin Crow. Let's walk through that.
[00:08:38] Speaker B: This is a textbook example. You had a defendant in a family law case. So high stakes, lots of emotion. Who had been dodging service for three weeks.
[00:08:46] Speaker A: Three weeks in family law, that's an eternity. Custody could be in limbo, assets frozen.
[00:08:52] Speaker B: It's massive. The previous server gave up, unable to locate.
So the attorney brings in Scott Frank's team. They run the skip trace using those credit header and utility databases we talked about.
[00:09:02] Speaker A: And what'd they find?
[00:09:03] Speaker B: They found a brand new residential address in Cairn Crow that wasn't on any public record yet. They went out, they verified it, and they served the person the next morning.
[00:09:12] Speaker A: So a case that was stalled for almost a month was suddenly moving forward in less than 24 hours.
[00:09:17] Speaker B: That's the ROI and it speaks to the scale. Here they cover the 15th, JDC, Lafayette, Acadia, Vermilion, but also the 19th in Baton Rouge and 14th in Lake Charles. It's a pretty wide net.
[00:09:29] Speaker A: Okay, I have to pause Here and ask a big question. It's nagging at me, and I'm sure it's nagging at you, the listener. We're talking about scraping credit, data tracking, utility usage.
Is this.
I mean, is this even legal? It sounds a lot like stalking.
[00:09:43] Speaker B: That is the single most important question. And the source material is incredibly strict on this. The short answer is, yes, it's legal, but only if there's what's called a permissible purpose.
[00:09:53] Speaker A: Permissible purpose?
[00:09:54] Speaker B: Legal term it is under federal laws like the GLBA and the fcra. You can't access this data just because you're curious. You can't hire these guys to see if your ex has a new apartment.
[00:10:03] Speaker A: So they aren't PIs in the, you know, cheating spouse sense?
[00:10:07] Speaker B: Absolutely not. The disclaimer in the source is explicit about that. No domestic surveillance, no dirt digging. They access this data strictly for the purpose of service of process.
[00:10:16] Speaker A: It all comes back to due process.
[00:10:18] Speaker B: It's the constitutional anchor. The 14th amendment guarantees your right to due process. You can't be sued or fined without being notified and given a chance to defend yourself.
[00:10:30] Speaker A: So this is the mechanism that ensures that right is upheld.
[00:10:33] Speaker B: Exactly. If you can't find the person, you can't give them their rights.
[00:10:36] Speaker A: That's a really fascinating way to reframe it. We think of tracking someone as an invasion of privacy, but here it's actually protecting their rights.
[00:10:45] Speaker B: It's about ensuring transparency in the system. No secret trials.
[00:10:49] Speaker A: But what if they're truly gone? What if the skip trace comes back with nothing? No credit, no utilities. The person has just successfully ghosted. Does the lawsuit die?
[00:10:59] Speaker B: No. And this is a critical piece of the service they provide. If they truly cannot find the person after trying everything, they produce a document. It's called an Affidavit of Due Diligence.
[00:11:08] Speaker A: Okay, break that down. What is that?
[00:11:10] Speaker B: It's a sworn, notarized legal document, and it details every single step they took. We checked credit headers on this date. We visited the last known address on these three dates. We spoke to these neighbors. We checked the jail roster.
[00:11:24] Speaker A: So it's basically a log of failure.
[00:11:26] Speaker B: It's a log of exhaustive effort. And for an attorney, that document is gold, because they take that affidavit to the judge and they say, your Honor, look, we have tried everything humanly possible to find this person.
[00:11:39] Speaker A: And the judge can then what?
[00:11:42] Speaker B: The judge can then appoint what's called a curator. It's an attorney who represents the missing defendant, which allows the lawsuit to proceed in absentia.
[00:11:49] Speaker A: Ah, so the affidavit is the key that unlocks the stall. It proves to the court you weren't just being lazy.
[00:11:54] Speaker B: Correct. Without that professional affidavit, the judge just says, try harder. This proves the negative, and it lets the legal gears start turning again.
[00:12:03] Speaker A: That makes perfect sense. So even a failure to find them is still a success for the client.
[00:12:07] Speaker B: It resolves the procedural hurdle. Exactly.
[00:12:10] Speaker A: Let's shift a little bit to the business side of this. I mean, we're talking about really sensitive data.
Trust has to be everything.
[00:12:16] Speaker B: Oh, absolutely. The sources highlight the importance of credentialing. This isn't the gig economy, you know, you don't just Uber a process server. So they list membership in napps.
[00:12:27] Speaker A: Nappa.
[00:12:28] Speaker B: The national association of Professional Process Servers. It's the governing body. It sets the ethical standards for the entire industry.
[00:12:35] Speaker A: And they also mentioned being part of one Acadiana in the Baton Rouge Chamber.
[00:12:39] Speaker B: Which gets back to that local expertise we were talking about. They're verified local businesses. They were featured in 337 magazine. It's not some shadowy operation. It's integrated into the local business community.
[00:12:51] Speaker A: Speaking of that, there's a quick mention of their podcast, paper trails being connected to 337 Media.
[00:12:58] Speaker B: Yeah, and it's an interesting sidebar. It shows how these local professional services are all interconnected. The media company handles the marketing and SEO. The process servers handle the legal logistics. It's a whole local ecosystem.
[00:13:11] Speaker A: It reinforces that local intel idea. You want the team that's plugged into the local network.
[00:13:16] Speaker B: Precisely. The team that knows the shortcuts in Vermilion Parish and the gate codes in River Ranch.
[00:13:21] Speaker A: There was one last little tech detail in the notes that I found interesting for the attorneys about uploading documents.
[00:13:28] Speaker B: It sounds small, but for a paralegal, it's huge.
The legal field can be so slow with tech. Instead of playing phone tag or using a fax machine, which, believe it or not, they still do. Oh, I got it. They can just go to a portal, upload the subpoena directly and see the pricing. It just streamlines that whole handoff.
[00:13:48] Speaker A: Okay, so let's zoom out. We've gone from the panic of a missing witness through these high tech databases, down to the muddy boots on the ground and finally into the courtroom. What's the big takeaway for you?
[00:13:58] Speaker B: For me, it's that finding someone today isn't about luck anymore. It's a hybrid discipline. It needs that high level access to real time data. The what? But it is completely dependent on the human element, the local knowledge for the where and the when.
[00:14:12] Speaker A: It really makes you rethink the whole idea of privacy. We all like to think we could just, you know, go off the grid.
[00:14:18] Speaker B: But unless you are willing to completely sever every tie to the modern economy. No credit, no utilities, no car.
You are constantly broadcasting your location to those who have the license to look.
[00:14:31] Speaker A: And that leads to a pretty heavy final thought. We talk about due process like it's this abstract legal right, but this deep dive makes it feel like a logistical challenge.
[00:14:40] Speaker B: It is. Justice relies entirely on logistics. If the logistics of finding a person fail, then the whole abstract concept of justice fails with it. That process server is the physical link that makes the law real for that defendant.
[00:14:55] Speaker A: Without that knock on the door, the Constitution is just words on a page.
[00:14:59] Speaker B: A powerful way to put it. The system only works if you can find the people.
[00:15:03] Speaker A: Well, that wraps up our deep dive into the hidden world of skip tracing. It certainly makes you think twice about what your electric bill says about you. Thanks for listening, everyone. See you next time.
