There are tens of thousands of people all over the country who over the years have learned the hard way that avoiding a process server in London really doesn’t lead to anything good. The cat-and-mouse game played with servers and uncooperative recipients is one that’s well-documented and never fails to make an appearance in all manner of movies and TV shows. Sometimes it’s hilarious and in other instances downright annoying, but what’s interesting is how these on-screen behaviours are indeed regularly replicated in the real world.
Flawed Logic
As for the logic of avoiding a process server, there’s technically a little in there somewhere. In order for court proceedings to kick off, the recipient must be served the papers and it be conclusively proven than they are in their possession. As such, if the papers are never delivered or successfully avoided, the court case cannot get going. This means that if the individual in question doesn’t want to face up to what’s happening, then technically all they need to do is avoid the process server, make sure they don’t get the papers and thus never have to face the reality of the court case kicking off.
Or at least, that’s how it seems on the surface.
Sadly though there are quite a few arguments as to why this course of action is about as useful as a wax fireguard. First and foremost comes the fact that while for most people being served papers it will be their first time, most process servers will have encountered hundreds, maybe even thousands of recipients during their careers. As such, there really isn’t a trick in the book they haven’t already seen, countered and pretty much mastered the art of foiling. So regardless how clever and crafty the recipient thinks they are being, they only end up coming out the other end rather red faced.
A Slippery Slope
Of course, not all intended serves are successful and it’s common for any process server in London to fail in their initial attempts. A victory for the slippery recipient? Not even close, as assuming that the server is in any way professional they will have already mapped out Plan B, Plan C and Plan X should it be necessary to go so far.
Now, it may seem like a good idea to make the life of the process server more difficult either to draw things out or just for the sheer fun of it, but this is the kind of attitude that backfires…big time. The reason being that when a server comes up with Plan A, it’s always the simplest and most painless plans of all. More often than not, it’ll be a quick and simple serve in a comfortable location and with plenty of privacy.
Should this be avoided, the server will have no option but to resort to other measures to get the papers over. With each failed attempt, they may have little to no choice but to try other environments and situations, which could mean passing the papers over in front of the recipient’s family, while out and about with their friends or even at their place of work.
Or in other words, to avoid papers is to traverse a slippery slope toward a situation that’s far more unpleasant than it needs to be.
Delaying the Inevitable
Perhaps most importantly of all though, why avoiding a process server is a bad idea is the simple reason that you’re doing nothing but delay the inevitable. There really isn’t a single recorded case of anyone ignoring a process server for long enough for the whole situation to just right itself. Court cases don’t just ‘go away’ because one party doesn’t want to hear about it, so the longer things are drawn out, the more nasty the whole affair becomes.
What’s more, when things finally do get underway further down the line, the negative actions of the recipient are guaranteed to be held against them and used by the issuer of the papers as something of a weapon. In addition, records will be kept of the recipient’s avoidance attempts for life and will therefore paint a less-than ideal picture of them should any legal parties find it necessary to investigate them again.
As it is the case with so many things in life, the faster a court process is allowed to get off the ground, the better for all involved. Delaying the inevitable leads to nothing but escalating animosity and a much less pleasant situation for all parties, though in the long-term it will only ever be the recipients that are doing themselves a huge disservice.