Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Okay, picture this. It's, I don't know, a rainy Tuesday night. Some beat up car screeches to a halt outside a warehouse, right? A guy in a trench coat, he jumps out, kicks the door in, dodges a guard dog and just slaps a subpoena on some billionaire's chest.
[00:00:17] Speaker B: Classic Hollywood.
[00:00:17] Speaker A: Exactly. We've all seen that scene. The process server as this, you know, rule breaking action hero.
[00:00:23] Speaker B: It makes for great tv. It really does.
But if you actually tried that in the real world, especially in Louisiana, which is what we're talking about today, you'd be out of a job. You might even end up in jail.
More importantly, that piece of paper you just delivered, it would be completely worthless.
[00:00:38] Speaker A: Worthless even if the guy got it completely.
[00:00:41] Speaker B: And that's really what we're digging into today. We are pulling back the curtain on this invisible logistical machine that keeps the courts moving.
[00:00:49] Speaker A: So this is the reality of being served?
[00:00:51] Speaker B: It is. And for our deep dive, we've got a whole stack of documents from the front lines. Service agreements, price lists from a company called Lafayette Process Servers, llc, and even some transcripts from an industry podcast, Paper Trails, hosted by a veteran in the business, Scott Frank.
[00:01:07] Speaker A: And I think we should establish right away why anyone listening should care. Because most of us think, well, I'm not a lawyer. This doesn't apply to me.
[00:01:13] Speaker B: That's the assumption. Yeah, but the court system is. I mean, it's the backbone of how we resolve conflict. Sure, A divorce, a business dispute, an eviction, none of that can even start until one person physically hands a document to another person.
If that process breaks down, the whole justice system just stops.
[00:01:33] Speaker A: So it's the ignition key for the entire legal engine.
[00:01:36] Speaker B: That's a great way to put it. And what's so striking in these documents is that this profession isn't about adrenaline. It's all about patience, research, and this almost paranoid adherence to the Louisiana Code of Civil Procedure.
[00:01:48] Speaker A: That sounds a lot less sexy than the movie version.
[00:01:51] Speaker B: It is. But let's go back to that myth. In one of the transcripts, we have the host, Scott Frank. He calls that whole door kicking thing TV stuff.
[00:01:58] Speaker A: Okay, but let me play devil's advocate. If I'm the client, I'm angry. I just want the person served. Why do I care how it happens? Mission accomplished. Right?
[00:02:07] Speaker B: Because the mission isn't just handing over paper. The mission is creating a legally binding record.
Scott explains that if a server crosses a line, trespassing using force, the judge will look at that and throw the service out.
[00:02:23] Speaker A: So the whole thing Is invalidated.
[00:02:25] Speaker B: The whole thing. So the client who thought they were being aggressive has just lost weeks of time and a ton of money. The case just stalls.
[00:02:33] Speaker A: So reputation and the validity of the service is way more important than some dramatic confrontation.
[00:02:39] Speaker B: Infinitely more important. It's not about being a bounty hunter. It's about being what you might call a legal logistician.
[00:02:45] Speaker A: A legal logistician who does a lot of driving.
[00:02:48] Speaker B: A lot of driving. And Louisiana is a complicated state for that. You have big cities, but you also have huge rural parishes, Places that are just hard to get to.
[00:02:55] Speaker A: Right. I was looking at their coverage map. It looks like a military campaign map.
[00:02:58] Speaker B: It basically is. And to make the business work, they use what they call a hub system.
[00:03:03] Speaker A: How does that work?
[00:03:04] Speaker B: Well, think about it. Their office is in Lafayette. They can't drive four hours to the Arkansas border for one envelope. The cost would be insane.
[00:03:13] Speaker A: Right.
[00:03:13] Speaker B: So they have agents in key population hubs. Lake Charles, Baton Rouge, New Orleans, Covington, Manville.
[00:03:21] Speaker A: Ah, so if you're in one of those cities, you get the standard rate. It's like the free shipping zone.
[00:03:25] Speaker B: Roughly, yeah. But the documents make a very, very sharp distinction for north Louisiana.
[00:03:31] Speaker A: I saw that. They say serving them down a dirt road in a rural parish is a different ballgame.
[00:03:36] Speaker B: And it creates this fascinating economic dividend. If you need to sue someone in downtown New Orleans, it's streamlined, it's cheap. But if they live down some 10 mile gravel road, you're paying extra. You're paying for mileage, for time. For a local person who knows that area, it's supply chain management for due process.
[00:03:53] Speaker A: Okay, let's get into those numbers. Because they literally put a price tag on everything. It reads like a restaurant menu.
[00:03:58] Speaker B: It's a menu of urgency.
[00:04:00] Speaker A: So the baseline is standard service. It's $120. That seems okay, I guess it's pretty standard.
[00:04:06] Speaker B: But look at what that 120 bucks actually buys you. It buys you patience.
[00:04:11] Speaker A: What do you mean?
[00:04:11] Speaker B: You get up to three attempts to serve the person, but the key is the time. For standard service, the first attempt is made within 120 hours.
[00:04:21] Speaker A: Wait, 120 hours. That's five days.
[00:04:23] Speaker B: Five days just to try the first time.
[00:04:26] Speaker A: Okay, hold on. If I'm a lawyer and I've, you know, procrastinated, and my court deadline is Friday, five days is an eternity. I'm dead in the water.
[00:04:35] Speaker B: And that is exactly where they get you with the upsell. Enter rush service.
[00:04:39] Speaker A: How much?
[00:04:39] Speaker B: The price jumps to $200. You still get three items. But now the first attempt is guaranteed within 24 hours.
[00:04:45] Speaker A: So you're paying an $80 premium just to skip the line.
[00:04:48] Speaker B: You're paying for them to drop everything and go. And when a statute of limitations could expire at midnight, that $80 is the best money you'll ever spend.
[00:04:56] Speaker A: But the menu gets wilder. I saw stakeouts. That feels like we're drifting back into movie territory.
[00:05:01] Speaker B: It does, but look at the cost. It's $120 an hour. Ouch. With a four hour minimum.
[00:05:07] Speaker A: So before they even put the car in park, I'm on the hook for almost $500.
[00:05:12] Speaker B: Correct. And that is just for a person to sit in a car and watch a door.
[00:05:16] Speaker A: Is that ever actually worth it? I mean, really, if you're trying to.
[00:05:20] Speaker B: Serve someone who knows the system, who's actively dodging you, absolutely. The server will knock, no one answers, they leave. The stakeout is just brute force. You outweigh them.
[00:05:31] Speaker A: It puts a price on being evasive. You're literally costing the other person $120 an hour just by hiding.
[00:05:37] Speaker B: Exactly. And what if you can't even find them? Then you have to pay for skip tracing.
[00:05:42] Speaker A: Which sounds cool, but the source material makes it sound like database searches.
[00:05:45] Speaker B: That's all it is. It's administrative detective work. 25 bucks for a basic search, 85 for a comprehensive one. They're just looking at utility bills, credit headers.
[00:05:55] Speaker A: So for 85 bucks, they can find out where I'm sleeping. That's comforting.
[00:05:58] Speaker B: Welcome to the modern age.
But my favorite line item was court filing. They charge $120 an hour for a courthouse runner.
[00:06:06] Speaker A: I saw that. And the little disclaimer does not include parking meters.
[00:06:09] Speaker B: It's so petty, but so real. It just shows you someone still have to physically drive there, feed the meter, and get a clerk to stamp a piece of paper.
[00:06:19] Speaker A: But here's the massive catch in all of this. I was reading the terms and one phrase is basically in bold.
All fees are non refundable.
[00:06:28] Speaker B: This is the most important part of the whole deal.
[00:06:30] Speaker A: So let's say I pay 200 for the rush service. They go out three times, the guy isn't home or he moved. Do I get my money back?
[00:06:37] Speaker B: Do you get $0 back?
[00:06:38] Speaker A: That feels. I mean, that feels unfair. I paid for service I didn't get.
[00:06:42] Speaker B: Ah, but that's the distinction. You didn't pay for a result.
You paid for the attempt. The source is crystal clear. The fees cover the attempt to serve.
[00:06:52] Speaker A: So you're paying for the gas and the labor. The outcome is basically a gamble.
[00:06:56] Speaker B: Precisely. And that brings us to risk. Not just financial risk, but physical risk. I mean, you're walking up to a stranger's house to give them bad news.
[00:07:04] Speaker A: Yeah. Nobody is ever happy to see the process server.
[00:07:07] Speaker B: No. And that's why the officer safety section of their agreement is so critical. It's mandatory. The client has to disclose certain things.
[00:07:14] Speaker A: It asks for criminal history, violence or weapons.
[00:07:19] Speaker B: Think about that. If you're a lawyer in a bitter divorce and you know the husband has a temper and guns in the house.
[00:07:26] Speaker A: You have to tell the delivery guy.
[00:07:27] Speaker B: You have a legal and moral duty to tell them. Yeah. If you don't and something happens, the liability would be astronomical.
It shifts the responsibility.
[00:07:38] Speaker A: It basically turns the client into an informant.
[00:07:41] Speaker B: It has to.
[00:07:42] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:07:42] Speaker B: And they also require a photo of the person being served, which I thought was interesting.
[00:07:46] Speaker A: But then, of course, there's an upsell.
[00:07:48] Speaker B: Right. If you don't have one, they say, we can source one from the DMV for an additional fee.
[00:07:52] Speaker A: It's safety as a business model. Help us be safe. But we're going to charge you for it.
[00:07:57] Speaker B: It's brilliant. But let's talk about the tech side, because the physical act is only half of it. The proof is everything. They talk a lot about GPS timestamped updates.
[00:08:06] Speaker A: Right. There was a testimonial from an attorney, Jason R. Who seemed really impressed by that. Why is that such a big deal? I can track my pizza better than that.
[00:08:14] Speaker B: You can, but your pizza guy doesn't have to testify in court.
Imagine this. The server drops the papers. Three months later, the defendant tells the judge, your Honor, I was never served. Never happened.
[00:08:27] Speaker A: And in the old days, that would be he said, she said.
[00:08:30] Speaker B: Exactly. But now the server says, your Honor, here are the GPS coordinates of my device on his porch at 2.12pm and. And here's a photo of the door. It's irrefutable.
[00:08:41] Speaker A: It's weaponized data.
[00:08:42] Speaker B: It really is. And that strictness extends to the paperwork itself. There's this section on the legal chain of custody that seems so picky.
[00:08:51] Speaker A: You mean the rule about the name and email matching?
[00:08:53] Speaker B: Yes. The source warns that the name and email in the service agreement have to match the portal upload exactly.
[00:08:59] Speaker A: Why that seems so minor. John Smith versus J. Smith. Who cares?
[00:09:03] Speaker B: Defense attorneys care. They're paid to find cracks. If John Smith signed the agreement, but the documents were uploaded by an account for Jay Smith, an attorney could argue the chain of custody was broken.
[00:09:13] Speaker A: Wow. So a typo could Actually derail a lawsuit?
[00:09:16] Speaker B: Potentially. By forcing that exact match, they create a hermetically sealed digital trail.
[00:09:22] Speaker A: Speaking of things that can derail a lawsuit, we have to talk about motion and order.
[00:09:27] Speaker B: Ah, yes, the bureaucracy of the bayou.
[00:09:30] Speaker A: So explain this. In most places, I just hire a server. That's it, right?
[00:09:33] Speaker B: In many states, yes. But Louisiana is different. The website specifically warns that for local Louisiana cases, you must get a motion in order to appoint them as a special process server.
[00:09:45] Speaker A: Wait, I have to ask a judge for permission to hire the guy to give the papers to the other guy?
[00:09:51] Speaker B: Yes. You file a motion, a judge signs an order, and only then is the private company authorized to act.
[00:09:58] Speaker A: But why? That seems so inefficient.
[00:10:00] Speaker B: It is, but traditionally this was the sheriff's job. And the sheriff's department gets paid for that service. It's revenue.
[00:10:07] Speaker A: Follow the money.
[00:10:08] Speaker B: Always. So this motion and order is a barrier. The court basically defaults to the sheriff unless you can prove you need someone faster.
[00:10:16] Speaker A: So you have to beg the court to let you be efficient, essentially.
[00:10:20] Speaker B: And if you skip that step, if you just hire them and they deliver the papers perfectly, doesn't count. Service invalid, case dismissed. It's a huge minefield for any out of state lawyer.
[00:10:30] Speaker A: Okay, let's zoom out to the business itself because they run a really tight ship and honestly, it seems like they have zero trust in their clients.
[00:10:39] Speaker B: I got that vibe too.
[00:10:40] Speaker A: Their payment policy is so aggressive. Prepayment is mandatory. No work starts until the invoice is paid.
[00:10:48] Speaker B: It tells you who their clients are. They're working for lawyers who are professional negotiators, often waiting on their own settlement money to come through.
[00:10:55] Speaker A: So they've been stiffed before?
[00:10:57] Speaker B: Clearly. And look at the check policy. No attempts are made until the physical check is received. And cleared.
[00:11:03] Speaker A: And cleared. That's the kicker.
[00:11:05] Speaker B: They don't even trust the paper itself. They wait until the money is actually in their account because once that service is complete, their leverage is gone. You can't, you know, unserve someone.
[00:11:15] Speaker A: You can't go back and take the papers out of their hand.
[00:11:17] Speaker B: So they hold the service hostage until the cash is real. It's just smart business.
[00:11:21] Speaker A: I also saw a little detail in the podcast transcript. A sponsorship for a company, Kind 337 Media.
[00:11:28] Speaker B: Right. Scott Frank mentions them. They do web design and SEO.
[00:11:31] Speaker A: It struck me you think of this as a gritty, street level job, but they're talking about SEO rankings.
[00:11:37] Speaker B: It's a survival tactic. If you need a server in Lafayette, you don't use the Yellow pages. You Google it. If his website isn't in the top three results, he doesn't eat.
[00:11:46] Speaker A: So he has to be a tech company and a logistics company.
[00:11:49] Speaker B: Exactly. Secure portal encryption, Google rankings. The tough guy era is over. It's the tech savvy logistics manager era.
[00:11:58] Speaker A: And finally, we have to mention the disclaimer that is everywhere on their stuff.
[00:12:02] Speaker B: We are not attorneys.
[00:12:03] Speaker A: Well, we do not provide legal advice.
[00:12:04] Speaker B: It's the ultimate liability shield.
They move paper, that's it. They can't tell you how to fill out a form that can't represent you.
[00:12:11] Speaker A: Because that would be the unauthorized practice.
[00:12:13] Speaker B: Of law and they could be sued into oblivion. Are the messenger emphatically not the message.
[00:12:18] Speaker A: So let's recap this whole journey. We started with the Hollywood myth, the.
[00:12:22] Speaker B: Door kicking action hero.
[00:12:23] Speaker A: And we found out the reality is more about hub systems and 120 hour windows and weird local court rules.
[00:12:32] Speaker B: We saw it's a pay to play system. You want speed, that's $200. You want a stakeout, that's 500. And you're only paying for the attempt, right?
[00:12:40] Speaker A: Not a guarantee.
We also learned that safety isn't about vests. It's about clients having to disclose the defendant's violent history.
[00:12:49] Speaker B: And we unpacked the whole digital surveillance side. The GPS timestamps, the chain of custody rules that make sure a typo doesn't kill a case.
[00:12:58] Speaker A: It's a surprisingly sophisticated machine from the order online click to a judge signing that motion in order. It's this weird mix of high tech tracking and high risk human interaction.
[00:13:10] Speaker B: It really is the intersection of the digital cloud and the physical stream.
[00:13:13] Speaker A: Which brings us to the end. And I want to leave you with something to chew on.
[00:13:16] Speaker B: Go for it.
[00:13:17] Speaker A: We live in a world of instant notification. I can ping you on three different apps. I can email you, text you, DM you. You can't hide from me digitally.
[00:13:25] Speaker B: True.
[00:13:25] Speaker A: So why in this day and age does the entire justice system still rely on one human being physically handing a stack of paper to another human being? Why haven't we just moved to service by email?
[00:13:38] Speaker B: It's a profound question. I think. I think it comes down to the undeniable reality of the physical world. You can delete an email, you can say it went to spam.
[00:13:47] Speaker A: Right.
[00:13:47] Speaker B: It is so easy to ignore the.
[00:13:49] Speaker A: Digital world, but you can't ignore a person standing on your porch.
[00:13:53] Speaker B: Exactly. When another human looks you in the eye and hands you a document, the abstract idea of the law suddenly becomes physical. It's in your space. You've been found, you have been seen, and now you have to face it.
[00:14:06] Speaker A: The one notification you can't swipe away.
[00:14:07] Speaker B: Precisely.
[00:14:09] Speaker A: That's it for this deep dive. Thanks for listening, and we'll catch you on the next one.
