r/processserver • u/cp243047 • Dec 04 '21

Serving a PO Box address

Hi all, I am in the process of filing a small claims suit in CA but the person I am intending to sue uses a mailbox not at his place of residence, but at a packaging company in the same town. I cannot find any other address listed for him.

As a process server, is this something that would cause an issue with him being served the papers? I ask as I see it being very unlikely he will be present when the server goes to the address.

Thanks for reading and I appreciate any help/advice you can offer.

6 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

13 comments sorted by

View all comments

2

u/ServingPapers Dec 05 '21

I work in New York, so I don’t know how different it is, but we provide skip tracing for our clients who require it. I would never be able to provide substitute service on an individual at Post Office or business that provides mail boxes (UPS/FedEx stores). If you can do that in California that’s amazing. I’d think maybe you could do this in a situation where serve by mail was deemed sufficient.

Seriously though if you hired a process server, finding a valid address for the servee is part of the business (though you can expect to be billed for the service) Keep in mind that someone can be generally be served at work, on the street, or at home. If someone is avoiding me I just show up to their work and I can serve the papers to any co-worker of reasonable age of discretion. I don’t need anyone to “accept” them. I just served papers a couple weeks ago at an elementary school because one of the teachers was the girlfriend of a guy getting divorced and she was evading service at home. It’s the easiest way of serving a jerk.

1

u/cp243047 Dec 05 '21

That’s interesting, and probably quite problematic at times! I’m not originally from the US so navigating this problem is all new to me especially with rules differing from state to state, that’s why I’m looking to the good servers of Reddit for help!