http://www.answers.com/topic/return-of-service
Invalid Service
The tricks of serving
process papers can, however, reach a point that the courts will not tolerate
because they subvert the purpose of service or threaten to disrupt the
administration of justice. The most
intolerable abuse is called sewer service. It is not really service
at all but is so named on the theory that the server tossed the papers into the
sewer and did not attempt to deliver them to the proper party. Sewer service is a fraud on the court,
and an attorney who knowingly participates in such a scheme can be disbarred.
Anyone who serves process
must file an affidavit
of service with the court, giving details of the delivery of the papers. If the facts in an affidavit of service
falsely assert that the papers were delivered, the person who swears to them
can be prosecuted for the crime of perjury. In addition, the plaintiff's action will not
have commenced. If the statute of
limitations has expired by the time the true facts of the improper service are
disclosed, the action is completely barred and the plaintiff has lost the right
to sue.
Service is also invalid if
the defendant has been enticed into the jurisdiction by fraud. Courts have ruled that luring a potential
defendant into the state in order to serve him with process when no other
grounds exist to assert jurisdiction over him in that state violates the
individual's right to due process of law. Service of process by fraud is null and void.