Will Dog Bites be treated as an Assault on Process Servers in New York City?

As we have recently published in a previous article, a bill has been signed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo which includes provisions incorporating new elements to second-degree assault provisions of state Penal Law, §120.05.  The statute has been amended to make it a crime of inflicting an injury on process servers “with intent to prevent or obstruct” the performance of their duties.  The bill specifically provided that it should be considered assault by a person who seeks to prevent a process server from doing his job by “releasing or failing to control an animal” such as a dog.

This has caused a huge celebration in the process service industry as many injuries have been caused by parties to be served intentionally allowing their dogs to roam free leading to injuries to process servers doing their jobs in New York City.  Process servers are constantly injured by dogs that are roaming free and there is no case more illustrative of this than a process server in Texas being killed by several loose dogs.  According to the report which you can read here, the owners of where the dogs were free were not present at the time that the process server was killed and possibly would not be charged with a crime.

It is the intentional acts that will be prosecuted under this provision in New York City. 

 According to Larry Yellon, President of the New York State Professional Process Server Association the statutes "“It contains a clause on animals, so if you let a dog loose to attack a process server, it’s a felony.”   Process servers must still be aware of their surroundings.  Although the assault provision will cover retaliatory behavior it certainly doesn't look like it will cover the homeowner who just leaves their dog outside for an entire day to menace the entire neighborhood.  With that being said, dog bites will be more extensively covered under the additional to the Penal Law.  Process servers in New York City, like all other workers deserve to do their job without harm and this is certainly a good step forward.

http://djhprocessservice.net/will-dog-bites-treated-assault-process-servers-new-york-city/

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Will NYC Process Servers be Required to use Body Cameras?

Recently there has been a push for having more accountability for law enforcement officials.  Many counties are suggesting body cameras be required for all police officers in order to monitor the behavior of both the civilian interactions as well as officer reactions.  Illinois is now pushing for this technology to be used by process servers in counties of populations over 3 million.  This would only affect one county (Cook) in Illinois.

More About Illinois Bill HB 6327

Illinois Bill HB 6327, would require that all the video data be stored until the resolution of the case.  This would place additional expenses on process servers who are already feeling the pinch of expenses due to competition and additional technological advances that have become commonplace in the industry.  The idea of the bill would be to improve transparency and security for public servants.  However, there has been opposition that litigants would become more violent if they knew that they will be video recorded.  For more information on the bill see ServeNow's article here.

Will this affect the New York City process service industry?

Being that New York City is a densely populated area, the legislature in New York City via the Department of Consumer Affairs has promulgated many laws since 2011 to maintain integrity of the industry.  In June 2011 the Commissioner of the New York City Department of Consumer Affairs (the “Department”) mandated new recordkeeping rules to be maintained by licensed process servers in the City of New York. The adopted rules and amendments to existing rules took effect in July, 2011. According to the Department’s website, effective as of November 12, 2011, licensed process servers are required to carry and operate an electronic device that records the Global Positioning System (“GPS”) location while serving process.  Furthermore in order to become a process server, an individual must take an exam charging a $75 fee for taking this exam and if an applicant fails the exam they must pay again to retake it. The applicant must also pay a $340 licensing fee and a $75 fingerprinting fee.  Also, this year amendments to the penal code make it a Class D felony to assault a process server.

In light of all of this legislation is there a need to have body cameras on New York City process servers?  One would think that the additional regulations set forth by the Department of Consumer Affairs would make it just an additional burden on process servers to maintain body cameras.  If Illinois mandates this, there may be a push for it in cities with a population density such as New York City.  This may lead to an another exodus of process servers from the industry.  We should all monitor what the Illinois legislature does and see if this is a viable option for New York City process servers in the future.

http://djhprocessservice.net/will-nyc-process-servers-required-use-body-cameras/

Assaulting a Process Server is now a Crime in New York City

After years of deliberation and talking about it, legislature has finally made into law for it to be a crime in New York City for a person inflicting injury on process servers to prevent them from doing their jobs a crime.  For New York City process servers, this has always been a challenge.  Many members of our professions have left as a result of being injured or assaulted by persons who have inflicted injury on them.  Besides Department of Consumer Affairs legislation, this issue is a reason many people decide not to pursue a career in the field of process serving.

A bill signed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo adds to second-degree assault provisions of state Penal Law, §120.05, the crime of inflicting an injury on process servers “with intent to prevent or obstruct” the performance of their duties.  The law also stipulates that it should be considered assault by a person who seeks to prevent a process server from doing his job by “releasing or failing to control an animal” such as a dog.

Second-degree assault is a Class D felony in New York punishable by up to seven years in prison.

In a letter to Gov. Cuomo in June, the head of the state Professional Process Servers Association, Larry Yellon of Orchard Park, said the level of “hostility and aggression” toward process servers has increased in recent years and sometimes escalated past verbal abuse to physical violence.  Yellon said process servers are an integral part of the judicial system by providing a direct link between the parties and the courts.  “They don’t deserve to be brutalized for simply doing their jobs,” he wrote to Cuomo.

Yellon said previously to enactment of the new statute, those injuring process servers could only be charged with misdemeanors.

The bill was sponsored by state Assemblyman J. Gary Pretlow, D-Mount Vernon, and Sen. Catherine Young, R-Olean. Cuomo signed the bill Aug. 19.

This is a big step in the right direction for the industry and will assist NYC process servers in doing their jobs more efficiently in the future.

http://djhprocessservice.net/assaulting-a-process-server-is-now-a-crime-in-new-york-city/

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