Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: I want you to start by picturing a scenario. It happens every single day, but we almost never think about it.
[00:00:06] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:00:07] Speaker A: You're involved in some kind of high stakes legal situation. Okay, maybe you're a landlord. You have a tenant who hasn't paid rent in like, six months. Maybe it's messy divorce, a huge business lawsuit. You've hired the lawyers, paid the retainers, gathered all the evidence. Everything is drafted, stamped, ready to go.
[00:00:26] Speaker B: The machine is primed, the end engine is revving.
[00:00:29] Speaker A: Exactly. But then just nothing happens. The entire legal machine just grinds to a total screeching halt.
[00:00:36] Speaker B: And not for the reason you'd think.
[00:00:38] Speaker A: No, not because of a Supreme Court ruling, not because of some clever legal loophole, but simply because nobody wants to get in their car and drive 20 miles down some highway to hand a piece of paper to a guy.
[00:00:49] Speaker B: It sounds kind of absurd when you put it like that, doesn't it? But you are describing the last mile problem of a legal system. It's. Well, in logistics, the last mile is always the most expensive, the most complicated part.
[00:01:00] Speaker A: And in the legal world, it's the most neglected. It's a logistical nightmare people just don't see coming. And today, we are going to dive deep into a very specific patch of land where this nightmare happens constantly. We're looking at a place called Violet, Louisiana, zip code 700092.
[00:01:18] Speaker B: A fascinating case study in geography versus logistics.
[00:01:21] Speaker A: We're going to look at why the modern gig economy, the Uber, the doordash model that we rely on for everything, completely collapses in places like Violet. And we're going to break down how one specific company, Lafayette Process Servers, llc, has built its entire business around going where the algorithms just refuse to go.
[00:01:40] Speaker B: It really is a story about boots on the ground versus satellites in the sky. It's about why local knowledge just beats algorithmic efficiency every single time when the stakes are this high.
[00:01:50] Speaker A: But before we start unpacking the geography of St. Bernard Parish and the detective work, Skip tracing. You need to drop the anchor. We have a very specific disclaimer for this deep dive.
[00:01:59] Speaker B: I do. And this is critical because we are dealing with legal topics today. Source material is explicit on this. This deep dive is for informational purposes only.
Lafayette Process Servers, they are not attorneys, they do not provide legal advice, and they definitely do not represent anyone before government agencies like the SEC or, you know, the irs.
[00:02:19] Speaker A: So just to be crystal clear, if I'm listening to this and I'm in some kind of legal hot water, I shouldn't be calling Scott Frank or his team asking for legal strategy.
[00:02:30] Speaker B: Absolutely not. They are logistics experts, not legal counsel. If you have a legal question, the sources are clear. Contact an attorney or your local bar association.
We are here to talk about the business of moving documents from point A.
[00:02:43] Speaker A: To point B and why that is so much harder than it sounds.
[00:02:46] Speaker B: Exactly.
[00:02:47] Speaker A: Understood. Okay, so let's look at the map I mentioned. Violet, Louisiana. To an outsider, or, I don't know, maybe to a computer algorithm, this just looks like a suburb of New Orleans. It's right there. Why is this place the Bermuda Triangle? For serving legal papers.
[00:03:01] Speaker B: It comes down to this concept the locals have. They call it being down the road.
[00:03:05] Speaker A: Down the road. It sounds a little ominous, like you're leaving civilization behind.
[00:03:08] Speaker B: In a logistical sense, you kind of are. If you look at the geography of St. Bernard parish, it's. It's not a grid system like you'd find in a typical city. It's a corridor.
[00:03:18] Speaker A: Corridor?
[00:03:19] Speaker B: Yeah. You've got the Mississippi river on one side, levees on the other, and you have the St. Bernard highway that just runs right through it. So once you pass the main hub, which is Chaumette, you get into Moreau, then Poydras, and then finally you hit Violet.
[00:03:33] Speaker A: So it's basically a literal dead end. A one way in, one way out kind of situation.
[00:03:38] Speaker B: For the most part, yeah. And it's the mix of environments that really throws people. The sources describe it vividly. You aren't just cruising through some subdivision with manicured lawns. You've got the Violet Canal. You have these heavy industrial corridors near the port. You have residential streets that are tucked away behind these massive chemical plants.
[00:03:58] Speaker A: Exactly. A leisurely Sunday drive for a big worker who just wants to make a quick buck.
[00:04:02] Speaker B: That is exactly the friction point. Think about how a national app works. Let's call it a process server. Uber. It relies on efficiency, on density. It wants a server to hit, like, five houses in one neighborhood in New Orleans east in an hour.
[00:04:17] Speaker A: Right. Maximize the stops, minimize the driving. That's the whole business model.
[00:04:21] Speaker B: Precisely. But if that applies, pings a driver in New Orleans and says, hey, go all the way down to Violet, that driver. They do the mental math. Instantly they realize they have to drive past Chalmette, navigate these industrial roads with heavy truck traffic, find a house that might be set way back from the highway, and then drive all the way back. There's no next ride waiting for them in Violet.
[00:04:44] Speaker A: The opportunity cost is just too high.
[00:04:45] Speaker B: So the money loser for them, so they reject it. Or, and this is even worse, for the client. They accept it, sit on it for a week, realizing they don't want to do it, and then they cancel at the last minute.
[00:04:56] Speaker A: And meanwhile, your court date is looming, the statute of limitations is ticking, and.
[00:05:00] Speaker B: You'Re just stuck back at square one.
[00:05:02] Speaker A: And that is where the local expert model comes in. Reading through the materials on Lafayette Process servers, they don't seem to treat St Bernard parish as this, like, annoying outlier.
[00:05:13] Speaker B: No, and that's the key differentiator. They explicitly list St. Bernard Parish as a core part of their service area. They aren't doing you a favor by going to Violet. It's baked into their operations.
[00:05:24] Speaker A: They run daily routes in the 70 day, 92 zip code.
[00:05:28] Speaker B: Daily routes. That implies volume. It implies they're already there.
[00:05:32] Speaker A: Which changes the economics completely.
[00:05:34] Speaker B: Right? If you are already sending a dedicated agent to the 34th Judicial District Court in Chalmette to file papers, adding a stop in Violet isn't some massive detour. It's just the next stop on the run.
[00:05:45] Speaker A: You mentioned the 34 JDC. The Judicial District court. That's the court for this specific area. I have to ask, is a court just a court? I mean, if you file papers in New Orleans, can't you just walk into Chalmette and do the same thing?
[00:05:57] Speaker B: You can try, but you will probably do it wrong. And in the legal world, wrong usually means dismissed.
[00:06:03] Speaker A: High stakes for a paperwork error.
[00:06:04] Speaker B: Every jurisdiction is its own little kingdom with its own rulers, its own rules. The 34th JDC has its own filing hours, its own clerks, its own, uh, very specific preferences for how returns are formatted. A random gig worker doesn't know any of that.
[00:06:20] Speaker A: So they might get the papers to the house, but mess up the actual court part.
[00:06:24] Speaker B: They might successfully drop the papers, but if they fail to file the return properly with the St. Bernard parish clerk of court, legally, it never happened.
[00:06:33] Speaker A: So the defendant knows they're being sued, but the judge doesn't know they've been served.
[00:06:37] Speaker B: Precisely. And if the judge doesn't know, the case doesn't move. Lafayette Process servers really emphasizes this. They handle the entire life cycle. Smoothing the paper is step one, but step two is filing the return and the original suits with the clerk. They close the loop.
[00:06:52] Speaker A: This brings up a tension. I noticed in the research. There's a really strong distinction made between professional agents and gig workers. It almost feels like a culture war within the industry.
[00:07:03] Speaker B: It is a battle for the soul of the industry, in a way. And it all comes down to one trust.
[00:07:08] Speaker A: How so? Why is trust so central Here.
[00:07:11] Speaker B: Well, think about what you are physically handing to a process server. It could be a restraining order against a violent ex spouse. It could be divorce papers. It might be a subpoena for a witness who really, really does not want to testify.
[00:07:24] Speaker A: This isn't a pizza delivery.
[00:07:26] Speaker B: It's volatile and it's legally sensitive. If a gig worker gets scared and, I don't know, throws the papers in a bush, but marks it as dark delivered in the app, just get paid.
It's an absolute disaster. A judgment could be overturned years later if the defendant proves they were never properly served. And this is why the sources highlight the leadership of Lafayette Process Servers so heavily. We need to talk about Scott Frank.
[00:07:51] Speaker A: The founder, Right? I saw his name all over the documentation.
[00:07:54] Speaker B: Yeah. He isn't just a guy with a car and a website. He has over 20 years of experience.
But the detail that really jumped out at me wasn't just the years. It was the governance.
He sits on the board of directors for the Better Business Bureau, the bbb.
[00:08:09] Speaker A: I'll be honest, sometimes I see BBB member on a truck and I just think, okay, they paid a fee. But sitting on the board is.
That's different.
[00:08:16] Speaker B: It is a completely different level. Being on the board means you're involved in setting the standards for ethical business practices in the whole region. You're overseeing the organization that oversees businesses. It signals to a client, say, a big law firm in New York, that this is not a fly by night operation.
[00:08:35] Speaker A: It's institutional credibility. It says, I am part of the system that polices this.
[00:08:40] Speaker B: Exactly. And they pair that with NAPPS compliance.
[00:08:44] Speaker A: Break that acronym down for us.
[00:08:46] Speaker B: Napps? It's the national association of Professional Process Servers. It's the trade association that sets the code of ethics for the entire industry.
[00:08:55] Speaker A: A code of ethics for delivering papers?
[00:08:57] Speaker B: It sounds trivial, but it's not. There are strict rules about how you can approach people, about trespassing, about, you know, being honest in your affidavits. Being NA A PPS compliant is like being board certified in medicine. It tells the world you adhere to the highest standard.
[00:09:11] Speaker A: It's a risk mitigation strategy for the client.
[00:09:13] Speaker B: That's a perfect way to put it.
[00:09:15] Speaker A: I also noticed they're members of a ton of chambers of commerce. It wasn't just one. I saw one. Acadiana Youngsville, the Baton Rouge area. Chamberbriac Livingston, West Baton Rouge.
[00:09:28] Speaker B: It's what I call the embedded strategy.
[00:09:30] Speaker A: What do you mean by that?
[00:09:31] Speaker B: If you hire a national app, they're just extracting value from the community, right? They take a fee, pay a driver a fraction, and the profit goes off to Silicon Valley.
[00:09:41] Speaker A: Right?
[00:09:41] Speaker B: Lafayette Process Servers. They're weaving themselves into the local business fabric. They're saying, we are part of this ecosystem. They're shaking hands with other local business owners.
[00:09:50] Speaker A: And that ecosystem includes their tech support.
I saw a mention of a sponsor, 337 Media.
[00:09:56] Speaker B: Yes. Their local business sponsor, 337 Media, handles their local SEO, their website. It's a subtle point, but it reinforces the whole theme. You have a local process server supported by a local media company serving papers in local courts.
[00:10:10] Speaker A: It creates a closed loop of accountability.
[00:10:12] Speaker B: It does. If something goes wrong, you know exactly who to call. You aren't chatting with a bot named helper01.
[00:10:18] Speaker A: Okay, let's pivot to the how.
We know where they go. Places like Violet. We know who they are. Professionals with real credentials. But I want to know what they actually do when they get to a house in Violet and the lights are off and no one's answering the door.
[00:10:32] Speaker B: The toolkit.
[00:10:33] Speaker A: This is the fun part, because people evade service, right? It's not always like the movies where the guy just says, you've been served and walks away.
[00:10:40] Speaker B: Rarely. Evasion is a huge part of the job. The sources list a service called difficult service.
This is specifically for those evasive targets.
[00:10:50] Speaker A: The people who park their cars three blocks away.
[00:10:52] Speaker B: Exactly. People who refuse to answer the door. People who train their kids to say, daddy doesn't live here anymore.
[00:10:58] Speaker A: So how do you be that? Do you just sit in a car with binoculars for hours?
[00:11:03] Speaker B: Patience is part of it, but intelligence is better. The sources mesh in skip tracing.
[00:11:08] Speaker A: That sounds like bounty hunter terminology.
[00:11:10] Speaker B: It's very similar. Skip tracing is the art of finding someone who has skipped town, or more often, is just pretending to have skipped town. But they use some really specific, clever methods. The one that really stood out to me was the utility search.
[00:11:24] Speaker A: Explain that. How does a utility search help you serve a lawsuit?
[00:11:27] Speaker B: Okay, so imagine a defendant. We'll call him Bob. Bob knows he owes money. So Bob tells everyone. I don't live in Violet anymore. I moved to Texas. Can't serve me here.
[00:11:36] Speaker A: Bob is lying.
[00:11:37] Speaker B: Bob is almost certainly lying.
So the process server runs a utility search. They query the water or electric usage at that Violet address.
If the report comes back and shows that Bob is still the account holder, and this is the kicker, that 5,000 gallons of water were used last month.
[00:11:56] Speaker A: Then Bob is definitely home. Or at least someone is taking a lot of showers at his house.
[00:12:00] Speaker B: Exactly. It just destroys The I don't live there defense. It's data driven evidence. It cuts right through the lies.
[00:12:06] Speaker A: That is incredibly clever. It's not just about knocking on a door. It's about proving who's behind it.
[00:12:11] Speaker B: It is. And they combine that with what they call boots on the ground verification. They'll go to the house, look for the car in the driveway, talk to neighbors, check for packages on the porch, and then, and this is the critical legal part, they swear out a due diligence affidavit.
[00:12:27] Speaker A: I've heard lawyers talk about affidavits like they're gold bars. Why is that piece of paper so important?
[00:12:33] Speaker B: Because of the hearsay rule. Generally in court, you can't just tell a judge, well, I heard he lives there. You need sworn testimony, an affidavit from a licensed processor detailing that utility search the car in the driveway, the dates and times they knocked. That becomes admissible evidence.
[00:12:50] Speaker A: So even if they can't physically hand the paper to Bob because he never opens the door, the affidavit might save the case.
[00:12:56] Speaker B: It's the key. It allows the attorney to go to the judge and say, your honor, we have done everything humanly possible. Here is the proof. The judge can then authorize other ways to serve, like posting it on the door or publishing it in a newspaper.
[00:13:09] Speaker A: But you don't get that permission without the affidavit first.
[00:13:12] Speaker B: You don't. You're not just paying for delivery, you are paying for the evidence of the attempt.
[00:13:17] Speaker A: The product isn't the service, the product is the proof.
[00:13:21] Speaker B: Spot on.
[00:13:21] Speaker A: They also mention posting specifically. Is that related to this?
[00:13:24] Speaker B: Yes. Especially for landlords. If you're doing an eviction or foreclosure in St. Bernard Parish, you often have to post a five day notice on the door. But again, the 34th JDC has rules.
[00:13:35] Speaker A: You can't just use Scotch tape in a prayer.
[00:13:38] Speaker B: If only if you tape it to the wrong part of the door, or if you don't take a photo with the date and timestamp, or if the text on the notice isn't the right font size, the judge can throw the whole eviction out.
[00:13:49] Speaker A: And then you have to start the clock all over again.
[00:13:51] Speaker B: Weeks of lost rent. That's why that local knowledge literally saves money. The cheaper option of doing it yourself or hiring a random gig worker becomes the most expensive option when you have to do it twice.
[00:14:01] Speaker A: Speaking of money and time, let's talk about the user experience.
If I'm that landlord or, you know, an attorney in Chicago, how do I actually use this service. Do I have to drive to Materi?
[00:14:14] Speaker B: No. And this is where they bridge that gap between the old school grit and modern tech.
The sources emphasize a digital upload platform. You upload your PDF documents right through their website. Simple and transparent. The source explicitly says that the pricing is viewable right there on the upload icon. It's not a black box where they charge you based on how desperate you sound. It's up front.
[00:14:34] Speaker A: But they do have a physical office. I noted the address. 1 Galleria Boulevard in Med.
[00:14:40] Speaker B: And a direct phone number. 504-210-8344.
[00:14:45] Speaker A: So why does the physical office matter if it's all digital upload? Isn't that a contradiction?
[00:14:50] Speaker B: Not at all. It's about accountability. Again, if you're sending original documents, maybe the only copy of a will or a critical deed, you want to know there is a physical place where those documents land. A PO Box feels transient. A suite in the Galleria implies permanence.
[00:15:04] Speaker A: It signals we will be here tomorrow.
[00:15:06] Speaker B: Exactly. If the gig worker deletes the app, they're just gone. They vanish into the digital ether. Lafayette Process Servers has a lease. They have furniture. They aren't going anywhere. And that provides a layer of psychological security for the client.
[00:15:19] Speaker A: We've covered a lot of ground here. We've looked at the unique, difficult geography of Violet and these down the road communities. We've looked at why the gig economy struggles with that last mile, because the incentives are just all wrong.
[00:15:31] Speaker B: And we've unpacked that specialized toolkit from utility searches to sworn affidavits that professionals use to solve that exact problem.
[00:15:40] Speaker A: It really changes how you look at the legal system. We tend to think of justice as this, you know, abstract concept. Lawyers in suits, arguing in marble courtrooms.
[00:15:50] Speaker B: But underneath all that pageantry is just logistics. It's dirty work, right?
[00:15:54] Speaker A: It's infrastructure. It's roads and finding addresses and dealing with traffic.
[00:15:57] Speaker B: If you cannot physically move a document from a law office to a specific address in zip code 70092, the entire concept of a right to a fair trial or due process, it stalls out. It remains a theory, not a reality.
[00:16:12] Speaker A: It's a sobering thought. We obsess over the laws, but we totally ignore the pipes.
[00:16:15] Speaker B: The plumbing of justice, so to speak. And when the pipes are clogged, the whole house floods.
[00:16:20] Speaker A: So I want to leave our listeners with a question to chew on.
We've been talking about process serving in St. Bernard Parish, but let's zoom out.
[00:16:28] Speaker B: Always.
[00:16:29] Speaker A: If serving a single paper in Violet, Louisiana, is this complex requiring utility searches and skip tracing and board certified leadership and specific local knowledge of the 34th JDC.
What other invisible logistical layers are out there?
[00:16:46] Speaker B: That's the big one.
[00:16:47] Speaker A: How many other legal rights are effectively blocked for people just because they live too far down the road for an algorithm to care?
What other last miles are left unconnected in our system?
[00:16:57] Speaker B: It makes you realize that access to justice isn't just about whether you can afford a lawyer.
[00:17:02] Speaker A: It's about whether the system can physically reach you. Something to think about next time you see a delivery driver or a process server navigating traffic. They might just be the most important link in the entire chain. Absolutely A huge thank you to everyone listening to this deep dive. We hope it gave you a new perspective on what it takes to keep the wheels of justice turning.
[00:17:21] Speaker B: It was a pleasure to break it down.
[00:17:23] Speaker A: Check out the sources if you want to see the service maps or learn more about the 34th JDC. Until next time.
