Ever wonder who is serving the documents you send to ABC Legal? In this blog series, we'll be shining a spotlight onto some of our star process servers and the amazing work they do.
Duane Day, 62, has been a process server for 13 years. He serves collections in the Atlanta, Georgia, area and does on-demand work with ABC Legal throughout the state of Georgia. Prior to serving, Duane was a dedicated Doctor of Chiropractic Services, as well as a professor for seven years at a chiropractic university. Outside of process serving, Duane and his wife love finding new recipes at restaurants and learning to make them at home together.
Duane recently took time out of his busy schedule to tell us more about his life and what it means to work on-demand as a process server.
What does it mean to be an on-demand worker?
On-demand works from the standpoint of an attorney needs a job done, so they load the information as to what that job is and the document download. It gets printed out, and someone who works for the company, MLQ at the time before they were acquired by ABC Legal, would then determine which of their on-demand servers was best suited to grab that job and go. That would depend on if the first attempt was needed today, tomorrow, or within 3 days and that might be anywhere in the state of Georgia.
What areas do you serve?
It just depends on what the job is, where it’s going, and whether or not I am appointed in the appropriate court that it came out of. I serve in any zip code [in Georgia] that I get on-demand. Outside of ABC Legal, I serve my own zip code for collections. The collections side requires that you do these seven attempts within a certain time frame on a regular basis. I handle my work [collections] in the county that surrounds Atlanta as well as any far away jobs that it [on-demand work] might send me, like north Georgia or west Georgia, and have it not interfere with my ability to serving.
How Did you get your start as a process server?
I am a retired Doctor of Chiropractic. One of my patients was involved in the process server arena and I joined when I retired.
How Long have you been a process server?
I started 13 years ago as a part timer.
What is your favorite part of the job?
There are two sides to it. The practical side: A lot of people feel bad about serving people. To me, when I am serving somebody, I am making them aware (if they aren’t already) that they have a problem that needs to be dealt with. Being served is part of their due process, from the standpoint of it gives them the ability to fight it. It’s not just: “You’re getting served, you lose” because that’s not always the case. It’s: “You’re getting served with something that’s going on and it needs your attention, and you could win”. Without being served, you lose your due process. It’s entirely possible you could lose your case and not even know it because it went to publishing - you got served via publication [when they publish it under the sheriff section of the newspaper or at the courthouse]. Then suddenly, you’ve lost, you have judgement against you, and it’s on your record for 7 years. I’m informing them of a situation and it’s helping them with their due process.
The other side: I make it a game. I set out to do this serving and it might be it’s a 50-mile trip and I am making 10, 12, or 20 stops. To me, I play a game. Every place I stop, I find money. This job may pay me $45, that job may pay me $74, this job may pay me $84, that one may pay me $50, etc. I look at it from the standpoint of everywhere I go, there is money hidden on that address when I get there, and it is up to me to find it. If I serve the paper right away, I found it right away. If I have to go back a second or third time, eventually I find the money. I don’t start out my day going, “Oh, I have to go out and serve papers”. My day starts out, “I’ve got 10 stops to make and I'm going to find money everywhere”.
What precautions do you take to keep yourself safe?
There’s not a lot you can do. I take notes on address I will never go back to. If there is a hostile situation, I will report the situation.
What is Your Favorite service of process Story?
As I was going to serve, I pulled into the driveway and they [the individual being served and their family] were getting into the car. Now, they have no idea who I am, but they all bailed out of the car, got back into the house, and wouldn’t answer the door. I turned around, got in my car, and left. I just went to the end of the street, did a U-turn, and came back. I pulled into the driveway, and they had all loaded back into the car again. She [the individual being served that was behind the wheel] backed down the driveway towards my car until she touched my car. Then she floored it - spinning her wheels - trying to push my car out of the way. Then she pulled back up the driveway. Everyone unloaded, running back into the house, and I called the police. They [the police] knocked on the door and talked with her. They came and talked to me. Then they helped me serve her.
Duane Day is a superstar when it comes to quickly and successfully completing each job, effectively meeting all (customer, court, & ABC’s) requirements, and submitting completed proofs of service, and ABC Legal values his work.
If you are interested in hearing more process server stories, then subscribe to our blog. In need of service of process? Order online today. Want to work as a process server? Contact the recruiting team to learn more today.
About ABC Legal
With more than 2,000 process servers across the U.S. and 75 countries, ABC Legal is the nation’s leading service of process and court filing provider, as well as the Acting Central Authority to the U.S. Department of Justice. Our digital approach saves valuable time and resources, and our cloud-based solutions are compatible for use on desktop, browser, and smartphones. Docketly—an ABC Legal subsidiary—provides appearance counsel on a digital, custom-built platform that smoothly integrates with our applications and services. Learn more at www.abclegal.com.
Learn More
What Do Process Servers Do?
Becoming a Process Server with ABC Legal Services
