AG files suit against process server

Several Minnesotans, including at least two from the Iron Range and one from Duluth, are named as victims in a lawsuit filed by Attorney General Lori Swanson on Thursday against a state process serving company.

Minnesota company TJ Process Service, a Minnesota company, and Jeremy Umland, one of its process servers, have been sued by the Attorney General's Office for allegedly wrongly serving people with debt collection lawsuits.

"One of the most fundamental legal rights in the American judicial system is the right of a person to be notified of claims made against the person in court. 'Sewer service' deprives a person of the opportunity to appear in court to defend against the claims made in a lawsuit," said Swanson.

"Sewer service" refers to a false certification by a process server that a lawsuit has been served on a person.

TJ Process Service is located in Wadena, Minnesota, and Umland lives in Verndale, Minnesota. The lawsuit was filed in Koochiching County.

The state, through the lawsuit, seeks a court order to determine the scope of the service deficiencies and to provide remedy situations for the victims.

In a sworn deposition, TJ Process Service's owner admitted that Umland engaged in "sewer service" while a process server for the company.

The lawsuit alleges that some of the company's process servers pre-signed papers through a printer to add details to the service and the company's secretary then notarized the papers falsely swearing that she had witnessed the process server sign affidavits under oath attesting to their contents, according to a news release from the attorney general.

Residents of Tower, Aurora and Duluth are some of the individuals who claim they were improperly served by Umland and TJ Process Service."