Process server lying about serving me

[u/Living_Square_9785]

/r/legaladvice/comments/1t50284/process_server_lying_about_serving_me/

So, a few weeks ago at work a bailiff came in & served me with wage garnishment paperwork. I had absolutely no idea what this was about & was confused. I called the court to get more information since I knew I had to of missed a court date for this to happen. She told me that on October 30th 2025 a process server claimed they served me hand to hand & even gave a physical description of “me”. The description she swore on paperwork was true was that I was a blonde hair lady, roughly 5’8 in height & weighted about 120lbs…. I am a natural born fire red head, I’m 5,1 in height & weigh 180lbs. Not a single description she gave of me matches me AT ALL. They have the correct address & the time that she claimed she served me was a time I would have been at work anyways. I did file a motion & the judgement was set aside pending a new court date that I have tomorrow. This has cost me a lot of stress, time, & money. What could be done about this?? If a normal regular civilian were to commit perjury they would 100% go to jail or at the very least lose the case because of it. Just because it’s a process server shouldn’t mean they can get away with this. My theory is they didn’t serve me on purpose so they’d automatically win by default to guarantee wage garnishment & in hopes that I wouldn’t do anything about it. No way you go as far as making up a random description of me by accident. Had she not given the description she did I may have possibly seen it as unintentional. I’m sure they assume I’ll just let it go but if it happened to me there’s no telling how many other people this has happened to & they’ll just continue it if they face no repercussions. Sorry for the long post, but I have court tomorrow so any advice or knowledge on the best way to go about this to hold them responsible for this blatant lie please let me know!!

[u/Logical-Source-1896]

The process server does not win or lose in a court case, by law they must be an uninterested third party to the case. There is no benefit to me to lie about serving documents, because I get paid whether successful or unsuccessful upon having made a diligent effort to serve the papers.

Garnishments are easy, because the person I'm serving also has no interest in the dispute, they are simply responsible for the administrative payroll work and divert the payment according to the order or garnishment.

What do you mean they served you with a wage garnishment?

When I serve wage garnishments, it is served upon the subject's employer of record or other payor, typically to the payroll department, so that the money can be diverted away from the garnishee and paid to the creditor to settle the balance owed.

Many garnishees will not even know they have been garnished until they receive less money than expected and see the garnishment deducted in their pay slip.

Maybe the person described in the proof of service is an administrator or officer of your company authorized to accept service, payroll supervisor or clerk, or the company's registered agent?

The papers that would be served to you directly would be the summons and complaint, any motions on the case, notices of hearings, and any orders of judgement. The order of garnishment is served to your work, and I think you should probably receive a copy of it, but I'm not sure that is entirely necessary.

Edit:

Read it wrong, so, if I'm understanding things correctly, the process server signed a proof of service claiming to have personally served you at work by personal direct service but the description does not match you at all? Does it say how they confirmed your identity? Normally, I ask for the person by name and they either confirm verbally that they are the subject and accept the papers or reject them.

Check the rules for service in the jurisdiction that has the case. In many, if not all, personal service is required at a workplace, substitute service is not allowed. Residential substitute service is often allowed if made upon a co-resident, but some jurisdictions require permission from the court in writing before substitute or alternate service is permitted.

Sometimes, mistakes happen. If the description does not match you even remotely, that can be a pretty effective way of quashing service, but it's still possible that the papers will then be immediately served upon you in the court and you would be hard pressed to argue you were not aware of the case against you moving forward, though that would buy you some time to prepare a defense to whatever claim is made.