As our COO recently communicated to all contractors, fraud on our platform has tremendous negative effects, on defendants, law firm clients and judicial staff, and most relevantly here, honest servers. Fraud takes jobs away from people doing the work properly and damages the credibility and livelihood of every professional at One Legal and in our community.
One Legal is unequivocally against fraudulent service. We stand with honest servers who have always had to compete against this. Our ServeManager platform will continue to improve as we use the latest AI tools to systematically ensure that all attempts and serves are performed at an impeccable level.
Also, the SPARE Act (AB 747) shifts the burden of proof to the plaintiff to prove lawful service by a preponderance of the evidence. That makes it in our combined best interests to ensure that every attempt meets (or exceeds) the standards set by that legislation. The motto of the day: "trust but verify."
Diligence Enhancements
As a result, our staff is now taking steps to provide you with diligence tools in ServeManager as well as regularly using both manual and programmatic methods to verify the quality and accuracy of attempts in service of process jobs across the board (non-serves, sub-serves, successful serves).
Diligence Standards
The standard for One Legal diligence on most personal service of process jobs is up to 4 attempts:
Weekday morning attempt
Weekday midday attempt
Weekday evening attempt
Weekend attempt
This level of diligence easily meets the requirements set forth in the SPARE Act. Business diligence is similar, albeit tied to the operational hours for that business.
For a complete breakdown, see "Best Practices" for Service Attempts and Diligence.
Diligence Checklists
For easier guidance on what timeframes/days you still need to achieve diligence on any individual job, One Legal has designed useful checklists. As you attempt each diligence timeframe, a check will be placed in that box to indicate that the standard has been met. For more detail, see the article on Diligence Checklists.
Diligence Reviews
As stated in our COO's letter, One Legal is combining internal staff efforts with programmatic reviewing to identify any attempts that indicate potential issues. These can include GPS data too far from the actual address, photo GPS not matching the address GPS, timestamp inconsistencies, velocity reading on the photo (were you standing, walking toward the address, or driving by?), attempt frequency in a given timeframe, and photo quality among others. Anything that could be questioned by the courts, opposing counsel, or our own customers is fair game.
Of course, this will result, at least initially, in more frequent "flagged" attempts, requiring clarification and responses from you.
What Happens If One of My Attempts Gets Flagged?
A flag isn’t an accusation. It means something in the attempt record, like the time or location, needs a closer look or clarification.
Our team may reach out to ask for more details, like a clearer photo or a fuller description. We’ll work through it with you, so you have every opportunity to explain or enhance.
A clear, detailed attempt description is the best way to show what happened. Remember to include as many details and observations as possible. Use the mobile app to its fullest and it will guide you to optimal descriptions that meet SPARE Act (and One Legal) standards.
We want to assure the courts and our customers that the work you do is of the highest quality. Accountability and verification are two words you will hear frequently. Unlike bowling, this is an area where you want all SPARE, no strikes. Keep up the good work, follow the instructions, use the app fully, and we'll all thrive in this new SPARE era.