Legal Question in Civil Litigation in California

Re: serving

Anybody over the age of 18 can serve a small claims lawsuit if the are not a party in the lawsuit. Whoever serve it must fill out a Proof of Service that should be filed with the court well in advance of the trial.

You can hire the Sheriff's Department to serve the lawsuit for a fee of $30. This method is very good if serving a business or someone who is not likely to evade service.

Registered process servers are more expensive, but are useful if the person to be served is evasive or only available at night or on weekends. The Sheriff will not serve documents too late at night or on weekends.

You can have the court clerk serve the matter via certified mail and this is usually good for businesses, but personal service is better. The service is not valid if the persona does not sign for the certified and this is considered the least effective methods of filing a small claims lawsuit.

Re: serving

Personal service of summons and complaint can be done by anyone over 18 years of age and not a party to the case. If more than 10 services per year, service must be done by registered process service, sheriff, and private investigators. Most small claims courts provided an option to service defendant via certified mail - there is a fee and the success rate is marginal. Better to go with professional service -- costs for service are generally recoverable if you prevail in lawsuit.

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Re: serving

You can usually find a process server by contacting one in the yellow pages. They are sometimes listed as attorney service companies.

Good luck.

Very truly yours,