If Refused, the Court Finds a Way to Deliver
Video Transcribed: Service of Process. What if they refuse the papers from a process server? I’m Oklahoma attorney, James Wirth. That’s the topic that we have.
It deals with getting Service of Process of actions, and civil litigation, in the State of Oklahoma. So once you file your petition, you’ve made some allegations against the defendant, and you have to give them notice. And there’s a proper way to do that per statute. It’s a Title 12, section 2004. And you can do that by sending certified mail if that is received, you can do that through publication if you have court approval for that, and you can’t get it any other way.
A very common way to do it is through a process server, where they personally serve it to that person. So what happens when your process server goes to serve it and refuses it? So they’ve got the paperwork, you’ve hired them, you’ve paid them, they find the person, they try to hand it over, and the person refuses to accept it, or simply just walks away or runs away.
Well, the statute’s not super clear on it, but the practical results are pretty clear. So, what the statute says is that it serves a process server licensed or sheriff if you use a sheriff for service of process, to deliver a copy of the summons and the petition personally. So it’s delivering it personally. So, if you deliver it to them and they refuse to actually receive it, generally that’s still going to be considered proper delivery pursuant to the statute.
So, the process server goes out there and tries to hand it over, but they run off, process server certainly drops it. It’s like it’s there if you want it. And that’s generally considered proper service. If they’re knowingly and willfully refusing to receive the information, the court’s going to find it was delivered to them. The fact that they didn’t pick it up is on them. You should be able to get a default if they failed to file a responsive pleading within statutory time after that. All right.
If you’ve got other questions regarding civil litigation in the State of Oklahoma, or service of process, you’re going to want to talk to a Tulsa court attorney about that privately and confidentially about your specific circumstances. To get that scheduled with somebody at my office and go online to makelaweasy.com.
