"Nail & Mail" Process Service Victimizes Dead Man In Foreclosure Suit; Survivors Left To Sift Thru Parents' Personal Belongings Dumped On Front Lawn

In Douglas County, Georgia, MyFoxAtlanta reports:

• A Douglas County family is trying to figure out what went wrong and why they lost a home to foreclosure. Family members said Thursday that a court appointed conservator was supposed to pay the bills on a home belonging to a deceased relative, but the home ended up in foreclosure.

• David Brown said he heard about the foreclosure on his late father's house from a voicemail left by neighbor. "There's a lot of activity over there it looks like their throwing everything on the front lawn," said Brown.

• Brown's father, Dr. James Brown died in June. The estate was placed in the hands of a court-appointed conservator until the will could be worked out. "Larry Smith, the conservator was supposed to preserve the estate. Obviously [he] hasn't done his job," said Brown. The probate judge in the case, Hal Hamrick referred questions to Smith. Smith said he couldn't comment on the case.

• Smith's attorney said, "I have gone through Mr. Smith's files. We received no notice of the foreclosure or any hearings." The magistrate clerk said a notice of the foreclosure by SunTrust bank was tacked on the home and mailed in January [ie. "nail & mail" method of process service], but no one ever responded.(1)

• The Brown family said they spent the two days gathering up the belongings from the front lawn of the Douglas County home. "This is not the way I wanted to go through my mom and dad's personal things," Brown said. The family said they weren't sure what to do next. Smith's attorney said Brown's mail was supposed to have been forwarded to them, but claimed they never received any notices.

Source: Family Loses Home in Conservatorship.

(1) The homeowner died in June; the foreclosure notice was "nailed & mailed" over six months later in January. No word whether the process server engaged in a diligent search & inquiry for the homeowner by:

• inquiring of neighbors as to the homeowner's whereabouts,
• searching Social Security records using homeowner's Social Security number (usually found on mortgage loan application on file with lender) for any indication of his death,
• searching state drivers' license and motor vehicle records for a current address, expired driver's license, or expired/cancelled vehicle registration,
• searching county Health Department records to see if a death certificate was filed for the homeowner, and, if so, search court records for information on the appointment of the conservator.

Typically, the process server gets paid a flat fee for its rendered services, so being stuck having to do the extra leg work to detremine if the homeowner is deceased and, if so, do even more leg work to properly serve process on the deceased homeowner's heirs (assuming they can be identified and found) is not exactly in his/her financial interest. Taking a "head-in-the-sand' approach by simply relying on "nail & mail" is, ostensibly, a much easier route for the process server to go (and the easiest route to abuse), assuming the process server can go undetected and get away with it without first attempting a diligent search and inquiry for the homeowner. For a list of some of the types of activities that go towards establishing a satisfactory search by a process server for a lawsuit defendant, see Affidavit Of Diligent Search And Inquiry (found at page 14).

For a recent story of a homeowner screwed over in a similar way by faulty process service (ie. "sewer service"), see Central Florida Judge Voids Foreclosure Sale, Allowing Homeowner Victimized By Sewer Service To Recover Title To Home.

For more on the use of the "nail & mail" method of serving process on defendants in lawsuits, see NY AG Files Criminal Charges & Parallel Civil Suit Against Process Serving Firm & Its CEO Alleging Massive "Nail & Mail Sewer Service" Operation.