Today’s Question Of The Day What IS A Due Diligence

Today’s question of the day is on due diligence.
Hi Skay (SK) , I see your QOTD and blog all over the internet and finally wanted to ask my own question of the day so here it goes. My father use another small claims service when I wanted to go with you. Huge mistake!!!! They screwed our small claims up so badly we are going to have to re-file. They are not BBB approved with an A+ rating or BBB approved to begin with and you are and I see why now. So my question of the day on small claims court is what is a due diligence? Can you break it down for me? They claim they could not serve it yet would not say how many attempts they made when I ask for a list they would not provide one. This company is a hot mess, don’t know how they stay in business. BTW I am so happy for you, I read about the federal lawsuit and glad you won and got your name and trademark rights back ! Thank you Adam S. Tell everyone in the office hello and you all rock!!!!!!

Hello Adam, Thank you for your #QOTD on #SmallClaims #court. This is such an awesome questions I am so happy you ask me.
When a summons such as a small claims is served on an individual who is called the defendant(s), the law requires a “due diligent effort” at personal service before “substituted service” may be made. (See Code of Civil Procedure Sec. 415.20 (a)) Each California Superior Court has different due diligence requirements. Some requirements are written in local rules that are subject to change without notice. Most county superior courts’ due diligence rules and/or policies are unwritten, and vary with each clerk that working as one will do one thing and another does another , it’s very frustrating on attorney service’s and we are at the court daily . For someone that’s never done a small claims case it’s overwhelming ! This is why it is so important to know what you are dealing with and how the small claims court does things in each city and in each court house . Each court has different rules and we are in each court house weekly so we know the process each court does and follows. For example Fontana Superior court is different from LA county courts and Riverside county superior court is different then Sacramento superior court . They should have one set of small claims rules because it very upsetting to me how each court makes there own rules.
All my process servers are licenses and bonded with the state of California and it important to have a process server know what he is doing not just any person to save a few bucks. Remember you only get your court fees back if the process server is licensed and bonded an officer of the court. Process server’s needs to know before a substituted service is effected they need to know that they must attempt personal service before substituted service can be even made. We always make the attempts to personal serve someone, but bear that no one likes to be sued. Defendants hide and personal service is not always possible so after 3-4 attempts we will substituted service (AKA sub serve)
This is want to do diligence needs to consist of:
• 3 or 4 separate attempts on different days
• 3 attempts on any day as long as they are spanned by 6 hours
• 3 attempts on different days during a specified span of hours
• Some require a weekend attempt

The due diligence rules vary widely between counties, and occasionally, within a county between small claims courts vary. Some vary between the Limited and Unlimited Jurisdiction cases depending what type od case it is such as; small claims, civil complaints for money, summons and complaints, or family law. Each presiding judge has the prerogative to dictate a change that and this is annoying. Which is upsetting to us often. In some courts and counties, a new presiding judge is rotated in every year, after a vote of all judges as a function of the court’s administrative process. Some county courts have only one judge that been there for years. Pro Tem judges step in often for judges.
I hope this covers in detail what a due diligence is and remember a company approved by the BBB is huge you can not just pay if you want to be better business approved . The BBB has to come to you ! You can not go to them . The scoring system falls under high standards of commitment and excellent strides in making your customers happy! You have to go above and beyond to have an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau! This is a very hard standing to keep . In California 4,500 a day file a small claims lawsuit so in this business that is very high standards that we keep here at EZ Small Claims! I hope when your ready to re-file or need service done please call me directly at my office and I’ll be glad to personally chat with you one on one ! If they did screw up on service of process ( Process serving, serving the defendant) they need to re serve it and do it right ! The court needs a proof of service that is done correctly. Here at EZ Small Claims we always handle the proof of service with any service of process
( serving legal documents ) if we help you from the start our services handle everything except show up in court for you ! This is the only part you need to do on your own . So from start to finish my company is here for you ! We keep those family valves in place that corporations do not have ! About the federal lawsuit we are finally glad that the federal district lawsuit is over with the bait and switch and fraudulent company that took our name ! They are shut down and can not take consumers money anymore I am so thankful to our awesome attorney. Our story will be coming up on Fox News, when it is we will have a link to it on our website under the tab press release ! So make sure to check it out if you follow my blog feed !