Imagine being sued and never knowing it until it was too late to fight back. NBC 5 Investigates has learned judges in at least two more North Texas counties suspect some process servers have lied about serving court papers to defendants in lawsuits, leaving people in the dark about the cases file d against them. The concerns, first reported by NBC 5 Investigates in February, are now sparking a broader statewide conversation about how to fix a broken process. A state agency is considering tougher rules, and one county has launched a criminal investigation into whether process servers trusted by the courts lied. Frustrated judges in Ellis and Parker counties told NBC 5 Investigates they have seen serious problems. In Ellis County, Justice of the Peace Chris Macon described one case in which a process server signed a sworn affidavit claiming he served court papers to a woman who died. “She had been deceased two years. But yet I’ve got an affidavit where she was just served four and a half months ago in person on her front porch and answered the door, answered to her name,” said Macon. Justice of the Peace Chris Macon. When NBC 5 Investigates visited Macon, he had a stack of cases he was preparing to dismiss because they involved some of the more than a dozen process servers whom he and his colleagues suspect may have lied in other cases. Macon said when he orders those servers to appear in court and explain themselves, they do not respond. “My other JP’s here in the county have done the same — and they don’t show up,” Macon said. NBC 5 Investigates took the judges’ concerns to the Texas Judicial Branch Certification Commission, or JBCC, the state agency that licenses process servers. Executive Director Ron Morgan said he wants tougher rules and that the commission may consider requiring a state exam to become a licensed process server. Right now, the state requires only a seven-hour training course taught by private groups or companies, and there is no state-administered licensing test. Texas Judicial Branch Certification Commission Executive Director Ron Morgan, left, talks with NBC 5’s Scott Friedman, right. Morgan said he hopes testing would weed out people who may see serving papers as a side hustle and may not understand or follow the rules. “We do not want people working in the field who are engaged in this conduct,” Morgan said In February, NBC 5 Investigates revealed that Denton County judges had a list of more than two dozen process servers they suspected of making false statements in cases where evidence showed that papers were not served directly to the defendant or were not served at all. Judges said that in some cases, they denied people the chance to defend themselves. Brenda Gloor One of those people was Brenda Gloor, who proved she was in South Texas when a process server swore he had handed her court papers in Denton County. Gloor said she did not learn about the debt-collection lawsuit until after the court had entered judgment against her. “They took that away from me,” said Gloor, of her chance to defend herself. “It can happen to anybody. And you won’t even know about it.” Gloor said it took months to get that judgment reversed so she could begin repairing the damage to her credit. Denton County Justice of the Peace James DePiazza had pleaded with the state in February to help crack down on process servers who break the rules. The JBCC later reached out to DePiazza, and he is now working with the commission to help revise the state’s rules and training. Justice of the Peace James DePiazza. Problems are also surfacing in Parker County, where Justice of the Peace Timothy Mendolia said his county has its own list of suspect servers and that the state has done little to help. “You just assume that the process server is not going to lie and falsify a document that they’re filing with the court,” Mendolia said. In one case, Mendolia said he filed a disciplinary complaint with the JBCC after he said his staff caught a server falsifying a document. “We reported that to the licensing commission. It went through a year-long process. It was found that he did ultimately file a false document, and they fined him $100,” Mendolia said. Mendolia called that a slap on the wrist for what he viewed as a serious violation. The commission said many discipline cases are difficult to prove without clear evidence, such as a video showing a process server lying, and that it has limited staff to investigate the claims. Now, Mendolia and his colleagues have turned to the Parker County District Attorney, asking whether perjury charges can be brought against any of the servers they suspect lied to the courts. Justice of the Peace Timothy Mendolia. The Parker County District Attorney confirmed an investigation is underway. In a statement to NBC 5 Investigates, the district attorney said, “The sheriff’s office and district attorney’s office are working closely together to determine if there is sufficient evidence to support any criminal charges on these allegations.” Mendolia said the issue strikes at the core of fairness in the court system. “We want people to feel comfortable that they’re gonna be treated fairly in our courts. And this goes to the root of that, that is unfair,” Mendolia said. The push for prosecutions and tougher state regulations is also drawing support from ABC Legal, the nation’s largest process server provider. The company is a platform that connects state-licensed process servers to jobs, much like a ride-share app connects drivers to passengers. Judges in three counties told NBC 5 Investigates that many of the recent problems they have seen involved process servers working jobs they acquired through that platform. In a statement, the company told NBC 5,”ABC Legal and its customers have zero tolerance for falsified information.” The company said it, “…will report evidence of criminal behavior…”, in addition to removing all suspect servers from its platform. In many cases, the company said it detected suspicious behavior even before judges flagged it. ABC Legal said it supports the concept of a state licensing exam but added,”…the individuals of most concern are knowingly electing to commit perjury, and training may not impact their resolve.” The company said it has been meeting with Texas judges and the JBCC to offer support, and has set up a hotline for judges to report concerns. Some industry insiders have suggested that body cameras worn by process servers could provide evidence of whether papers were served to the right person and help the state crack down on process servers who are not doing their jobs. ABC Legal said it is working on body camera solutions, but there are hurdles, including privacy concerns from law firms that hire process servers. Broken Process Broken Process Feb 19 Sued without knowing it: Complaints grow over process servers in North Texas courts NBC 5 Investigates Feb 19 Could you lose a lawsuit without ever being served? ...read more read less