During the height of the COVID-19 stay-at-home orders, all but essential workers were mandated by state governments to shelter in place. Professionals in the healthcare and service industries received much-deserved recognition for their commitment to their professions and their community, but many essential workers remained in the background.
Among those essential workers doing their jobs were process servers. Process servers perform a job that upholds a core tenant of our democracy: the right to due process.
The importance of due process
Let’s talk about due process for a minute. Due process was something America’s founding fathers thought about carefully when drafting the 5th Amendment. Under due process, you can’t have your property seized or be put into jail without going through the legal system to determine if you’re guilty and, if so, what penalties are warranted.
Due process is a broad term, one that encompasses a number of more nuanced applications. Process servers are closely involved with “procedural due process.”
Procedural due process means that you have to be given notice and a chance to be heard when someone is taking legal action against you or your business. It could be anything from divorce papers to a summons to testify in court. No matter what, though, you have to be notified and given a chance to speak on your behalf before a decision or judgment can be made.
Process servers take on this task. We deliver legal documents in person, provide evidence of delivery via an Affidavit of Service. This Affidavit is notarized and handed over to the attorney of record for filing.
Community responsibility
In a time of crisis, upholding constitutional values is important. Honoring the legal rights of those in our community is important. As Wisconsin attorneys Grant C. Killoran and Christa D. Wittenberg note, “After all, it is when the individual rights of some may be at odds with the interests of the majority that our constitutional protections can be most important.”
However, if it’s a constitutional responsibility to uphold due process, it’s also an important responsibility to balance community safety.
One of the reasons why community responsibility weighs so heavily on people’s minds right now is that there are no vaccines or broadly accepted treatments for COVID-19. We’re still in the early stages of the pandemic.
Public health officials have been hard at work to share accurate information. Healthcare professionals have been hard at work treating their communities. The best thing that the rest of us can do is follow local, state, and federal guidelines to prevent further spread of the virus. Isolation, quarantine, and personal protective equipment are still the best tools we have within our communities to mitigate the effects of COVID-19.
Our commitment
At DGR Legal, we have always prioritized the safety of our process servers along with the individuals that we serve. To make sure that we’re taking the necessary steps in the current environment, we’ve updated our practices and procedures to be in line with CDC guidelines.
We’ve updated our practices and procedures in accordance with CDC guidelines and are operating at full capacity while implementing remote work and social distancing.
We know that it’s everyone’s responsibility to safeguard our communities.
Our teams continue to work remotely and will continue to handle all services in New Jersey, nation-wide or internationally as permitted. We’re here to help.
