Finally, on Feb. 10, Giuliani’s assistant accepted service on his behalf.
And was promptly fired.
Tell me this is not the way it works, legally. If he kept squirming like a toad he could avoid answering even when he has acknowledged publicly that he knew it was coming??
IANAL, but yeah, part of taking somebody to court is making sure that they have the relevant paperwork in their possession (service of process), which is part of “due process”. Defendants have to have the information about the claims against them and when/where they’re expected to be in court.
No, I don’t understand either why somebody would try to avoid service of process for a court case they know full well is coming their way. It doesn’t enable you to avoid the charges against you, just makes the process more complicated and possibly more punitive.
But I have pretty much given up trying to understand why the hell Giuliani does anything.
Defendants who avoid service can be served by publication or by email. But you have to convince the judge that you tried really hard to serve them in person first. It’s a pain, so lawyers will often employ process servers to track people down and try to serve them wherever possible before applying for alternative service as a last resort.
Anyway, the point is you don’t magically get out of a lawsuit by dodging service, but you can delay it for a few weeks.
I had, so it surprised me when I heard that he would be speaking there. After all, what would Donald Trump be doing speaking on the Canadian Parliamentary Affairs Channel?
(Yes, such a channel actually exists in Canada.)
That should be his epitaph – it’s so perfect!
Lo many years ago I was a process server in Illinois for a family attorney. To serve the papers you just had to be in front of the target and get them to acknowledge their name then offer the papers, whether or not they were received. You could drop them on the ground, whatever. You’d sign an affidavit after that you’d identified the person and left the documents.
Basic strategy: knock on their door, or if there’s been avoidance go to their work and ask for them. They answer the door/come to the front desk, you cheerfully say, “special delivery for Troy M. Defendent!”; at that point if they accept the papers or say some version of "I’m Troy, " : done.
I expect that dodging service to the point the plaintiff asks a judge to permit service by publication is an excellent way to make that judge positively disposed to you once the legal proceedings get underway. This is all part of Rudy’s superior legal strategy.
I seem to recall reading a similar story about Sidney Powell - she was supposedly dodging the process servers for a week or two before they finally nailed her. And then she was like “I wasn’t trying to avoid them, I was just traveling a lot.” 
Apparently there’s a legal loophole where if you can successfully avoid being caught by the process servers for the entirety of the song “Yakity Sax”, you don’t have to go to court.
That doesn’t apply to Louisiana because it’s not a common law state.
Are you allowed to run through random doors in a hallway and put on split-second disguises?
The law is weird.
Could someone do it “Benny Hill” style, where you’re chased by a bunch of topless ladies?
I believe it’s actually required by the Constitution.
Only if the topless ladies are trying to serve you papers.
Oh yes, it actually is! Article IV, Section 2. Here it is:
A Person charged in any State with Treason, Felony, or other Crime, who shall flee from Justice, and be found in another State, shall on Demand of the executive Authority of the State from which he fled, be delivered up, to be removed to the State having Jurisdiction of the Crime.
This post slew me yesterday. I’m still trying to get over it!
It made me go watch the 2015 Sun City escaped llama chase again.
That Russian Airport Car Chase is hilarious! I was especially impressed that the driver used his turn signal in Baggage Claim.
I mean, the driver was quite considerate, under difficult circumstances. He drove slowly enough both to avoid running down any innocent bystanders, and to allow the the chasing police who slipped over enough time to recover and catch up to him, to allow the farce to continue.
I was impressed with how he squeezed his car through doorways that weren’t much wider than the car. Whoever was in that car could really drive.