Tracking down those hard to serve individuals / companies

At the close of the year I was involved in a skip trace and subsequent service of a small claims action against a San Diego roofing and gutter company. The company was being accused of inadequate performance on the job they had completed for a local San Diego family.

The family had previously attempted to have the company served and was unable to contact the owner at any of the addresses he had provided to them. Then they came to Abolt Process Service (www.AboltProcessService.com) and asked me to trace him in order to serve the small claims paperwork.

Usually a trace is reserved for individuals not companies as it is fairly difficult for a business to actually conduct business without a valid address available to the public. This case, however, is an alarming exception to that theory.

The company had provided several addresses to the public via their website, online advertising, etc. However, when I went to each of the locations, four different ones in total, their business had never been heard of. Several were merely residential addresses of local families who had resided there for several years, having never used nor heard of the services of the roofing/gutter company. The most entertaining one was a small auto repair shop who assured me fixing cars was their specialty as exemplified by their leaking roof.

In the end I was able to track down the fly by night company through information they had reported to the secretary of state. Even their business filings were incorrect and inactive. Apparently that address provided was the address of an employee’s girlfriend and we were able to follow the employee to their current worksite and serve the documents.

It is these type of cases that continually remind me of the need to investigate companies that you hire to do services for you. Check their credentials. You may want to log onto local forums that discuss the local contractors, etc in your area and confirm the satisfaction of others. I would recommend that you confirm their licenses, insurance, bonds, etc. The internet has opened a big door for businesses to grow but also allows many scams through as well.

Know the people you do business with and always call Abolt Process Service (www.aboltprocessservice.com) for service of process NATIONWIDE.