Firm Client Launches New Technology Assuring Against “Sewer Service” with Revolutionary Mobile App
A Colorado company named CivilMap has developed a new technology that takes a lot of the risk out of process service, and is launching that product nationwide on April 29. The mobile application has the potential to revolutionize that part of the legal arena, which is particularly timely as the irresponsible practice nicknamed "gutter service" or "sewer service" has been reported on in the national media, where some process servers have been claiming they were delivering papers when they actually did not serve those documents. As the city of New York has passed an ordinance aimed at holding process servers accountable, requiring process servers to use a GPS to record the time, date and location of the service delivery, CivilMap is poised to supply that new need in the legal industry, as they have been at the vanguard in developing that technology for several years. Lathrop & Gage attorneys Aaron Bradford (IP Litigation - Denver), Steve Horace and Josh Snider (Intellectual Property - Boulder) serve as lead counsel.
CivilMap's iPhone and web application launch works to prevent sewer service -- the iPhone app allows the serving process to be documented with third parties as proof of service. When the service begins, the GPS location is recorded, along with a time stamp and the audio record also starts. When the process server completes the service, the information is sent to the database, checked by the process server office, then an affidavit is generated from the information in the database. And by fully utilizing the mobility of the application, the record of progress can be accessible to attorneys by following the record in real time. The end result is a web application that dramatically increases efficiency in the process of serving, while is also reduces the chance of human error.
"This product protects law firms because they'll now know thanks to cutting-edge technology that sewer service is not an option," said Michael Kingery, the founder and creator of CivilMap. "Upon arrival at the destination of service, our mobile application records the GPS location, the date and time is stamped, and an audio recording of the service begins automatically. When the process server completes the service, the information is sent to the database and checked by the company office, and an affidavit is generated from the information in the database."
Mr. Kingery and Tyrel Lasley have continuously expanded their process server company by providing services in Denver and throughout Colorado and Utah. As a result of their testing and development of this new product, a server can no longer claim to be to be different places at the same time, or to have traveled thousands of miles in a single day, or alter documents so that they reflect an earlier date than that on which the document was received.
The launch also will affect those debtors who want to challenge validity of service, hoping to capitalize off recent impropriety in the industry. Now, a debtor's unscrupulous motion to quash service will be stopped by CivilMap's independent, third person verification of time, date, and location per service attempt. Additionally, up until this application, misinterpretations of the Rules of Civil Procedure and typographical errors had been common, even amongst the most honorable and diligent of process serving companies. Rule 4(l)(3) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (and as adopted by most jurisdictions) contemplates such human error, and states in relevant part: Validity of Service; Amending Proof. Failure to prove service does not affect the validity of service. The court may permit proof of service to be amended.
But now that margin for error will no longer be needed. In this way, CivilMap is poised to roll out this game-changing application, while legislation is being passed to increase the need for such a service, when the abuses of the current system have never been higher. A recent New York Times article reported that problems with process servers not delivering legal notices had grown during the recession, due to growing debt problems borne of the recent U.S. recession. In 2009, the New York Attorney General's office filed suit against an agency that allegedly filed false affidavits, then a class action suit alleging wrongdoing was filed in Manhattan against process servers and debt collectors. As more and more of the legal industry adopts the available technology that constantly evolves, the margin for error (and abuse) is being shrunk.
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