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BY CHERYL BENTLEY

The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 26, 2008

About 90 percent of them deal with civil matters. The rest are criminal. People he has served include everyone from wrestlers to disc jockeys.

About two thirds of his cases are judicial summons informing defendants that a legal proceeding has been initiated against them. The rest are subpoenas commanding persons to testify.

After operating a business that combined both private investigation and process serving, he narrowed his focus down to process serving only. He opened his present firm, Absolute Services, in Palm Harbor in 2000 and moved it to New Port Richey in 2003. But a large part of his business is still in Pinellas County.

Forget the exciting tales about chasing absconding legal defendants. Success boils down to persistence, the soft-spoken Swanson said. "Not giving up is the most important quality you can have," he observed.

The manner in which people are served depends upon the type of case. In eviction cases, for instance, after two attempts, servers can put papers under the door if damages are not involved, he said.

The easiest people to be served are those in jail. "They can't run from you there," Swanson said with a smile.

But generally, few people try to avoid being served, he said. In most cases, in Florida, papers can be given to anyone in the house who is 15 or older. He needs get only the name of the persons answering the door and their relationship to those being served before leaving the papers.

Even if he gets the door slammed in his face, if he has gotten the necessary information before, he can leave the papers under the door.

Some, though, give even the experienced Swanson a workout. It took him almost three months to serve a woman who had not paid her homeowner association fees. "She kept changing her hair color and changing her cars," he remembered.
Persistence evidently pays off. He usually has only about four or five cases a year that he can't serve, Swanson said.

Most people are civil, but a few blow up.

"I've been threatened and cussed at," Swanson noted.

In cases where he feels there is danger, he scopes out the surrounding area before confronting his target. "I put myself where I can get out if I have to," he explained.

Most of his business comes from attorneys and other process servers who do not live on the Suncoast and hire him to serve people in the region.

All counties have different requirements for process servers. Pinellas County, for example, requires them to take a 40-hour class at St. Petersburg College, pass background checks and carry insurance, Swanson explained. His favorite part of the job?

"Getting people served who are avoiding you. When you finally get them, you feel good."

Cheryl Bentley can be reached at 727-815-1069 or cbentley@suncoastnews.com.

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