can't get out of state defendant served

[Tory]

In 2006, I put a deposit of $500 down on a lifetime breeding contract for an Arabian stallion in Colorado. The total cost of the contract was to be $2500, with the deposit and then payments of $100 per month until paid off. The stallion wouldn't be available for breeding for 2 years so there was no rush. I had paid $900 on the contract by August 2006. In August a friend of mine and the owner of this stallion had a falling out. The next month my payment on the breeding contract came back marked "return to sender." My October payment came back the same way. The owner of the stallion refused to return my phone calls, my emails came back as refused and my letters came back as return to sender.

In October I left a message on the owner's voicemail that if she was going to refuse my payments, I wanted my $900 back. I also mailed several notices with delivery confirmation that she got. I got no response.

Next thing I know the owner is posting all over the web that we stopped paying on the contract and that's why she won't give us our money back. This was a lie, she refused my payments on the contract. She is also bashing our farm all over the web (then and now).

In January 2007, I filed in small claims court here in PA. The court sent her notices by certified mail, which she refused. So the court said I had to have her served.

I contact the Sheriff in CO and the fun began. Her farm's official address is an empty office building in one city in CO. Her mailing address is in another city in CO and the physical address of her farm is in a 3rd city. After going through 3 Sherriff's departments I got the correct one for the physical address of her farm. One of the deputies confirmed that her personal mail is going to the physical farm address prior to trying to serve her. But when they went to serve her, the people there claimed to not know her, never heard of her, etc.

I sent the paperwork and fees to the Sherriff's depart to serve her 5 times. The CO Brand Board even called the Sherriff's department when they went out to her farm to do brand inspection on her horses to ID her for the Sherriff so she could be served. The Brand Board called 9 times and the Sherriff's depart did not show up to serve her once. When I wanted to know why she hadn't been served yet, the head of civil complaints said the paperwork had been sitting on her desk for weeks and she just hadn't gotten to it. She was very rude.

I tried again, and they still didn't serve her. So after a year of paying the Sherriff's department fees to serve this woman they still hadn't. At the end of 2007 the Judge up her put the case as "stayed". I was told that this meant there would be no SOL problems, I just need to get someone who can serve her.

How do I get the Sherriff's department to do their job? They know where she is, I even have an aerial photo of her farm. They just refuse to serve her. I've talked to a private process server and he says he can't go on the property nor pull her driver's liscence for ID like a Sherriff deputy can so if she's being difficult a private processor won't be able to get to her.

I've since found out she is a career criminal and several people have been trying to serve her in the past 2 years with no success. Any suggestions? It isn't just the money ($900+ court fees), it's the principle.

Hire a private process firm to do it...costs about 100 dollars but you can get it back when you win.

--a private firm is often needed if the sheriff is not spending that much energy on it.

I am a private process server in Colorado. Sheriffs often will not go the extra mile to get people served, but a good process server will. In my business, I will "skip" a person before I serve them, so that I can get a good idea of who they are and who else might be living at the residence. Many times I have a picture or a description of the person, which will help in getting a paper served, even if they refuse it. Colorado allows "service by refusal" so if I can get the Defendant to identify themself then I have them, whether they take the papers or not.

If you'd like more information on getting this person served in Colorado, feel free to contact me at coloradoserver@gmail.com

A good process server will get the job done!

A good process server should be able to help you out. I serve process in Colorado and I always "skip" people before attempting service because if I have a good description of them and a photo I am able to make a "service by refusal" stick in court. Sheriffs don't often go the extra mile to get a defendant served. If you'd like more information, please contact me at coloradoserver at gmail dot com.

Good luck!