Document Serving Under Alert Level 3

 

On Tuesday 28th April we are into Alert Level 3 so Auckland Investigations are back to work but there will be some changes to our procedures to meet MBIE’s safe working guidelines.

 

Respect Peoples Bubble

 

There are 5 main areas where we will be making changes

• PPE

• Social Distancing

• Contact Tracing

• Wellness Declarations

• Contactless Document Transfer

 

PPE

PPE will be mandatory. We will be wearing gloves and a mask.

 

Social Distancing

We need to adhere to MBIE’s Social Distancing guidelines. For this reason, we can not physically hand documents to a defendant. See Contactless Document Transfer below.

 

Contact Tracing

Everyone is required to be able to identify everyone they have been in contact with for the purpose of Contact Tracing under Alert Level 3.

We have developed a Contact Tracing Sheet along MBIE Guidelines for our agents to use.

Date/Time          Name                                    Address                                                Mobile                  Email

 

Wellness Declaration

Should someone be in our bubble for anything longer than a short period of time we have a Wellness Declaration that we need to cover off before they can enter our bubble.

Have you or anyone in your bubble returned from overseas in the past 14 days?

Do you feel unwell or have any cold, flu or Covid 19 symptoms?

 

Contactless Document Transfer

The server will wear gloves and a mask

We will also need to take their details for Contact Tracing Reasons.

 

Non-personal service

We are always required to stay 2 metres away from people. This means that we cannot physically hand someone papers.

 

After we have identified we have the correct party or place of business we will place the documents on a table, desk or similar for them to view. After placing the documents on the desk, we will take two steps back to allow the counterparty to view the documents and then reaffirm that they are the individual/business that we have.

 

As per our standard procedures we will then confirm that they are authorised to accept service and we will then take their details for our service report.

 

Businesses that a closed.

Should we arrive at a registered office that is closed we will contact you to let you know.  

As we are in a State of Emergency it is possible that just leaving a Stat Demand or Notice of Intention to Cancel Lease at a registered office might not be sufficient. We will contact you to seek guidance on serving the registered office and then serving an additional copy on either the director, the directors place of residence or by email.

 

Personal Service

We are anticipating that defendants will use the Coronavirus for not wanting to accept documents.

(I have heard of a process server, not one of ours, out serving under level 4 lockdown where the defendant got very irate and the police were called)

 

After we have identified the defendant and explained why we are there we will offer to email an electronic copy of the documents to them should they give us their email address. We will point out that we will be leaving the physical copies with them and that they have been legally served. Should they not want to touch the documents for Covid 19 reasons then they can leave them where they are and read the electronic version when it comes through later in the day. 

 

What we don't want to do is antagonise already stressed defendants to the point that they run to social media, the Herald and or the Police because they think they have been hard done by some process server turning up, entering their personal space, endangering their bubble and potentially giving them Covid 19 contaminated papers. This wouldn't be good for your client, yourselves and my business.  

 

 

Re-Entrys

We had a few Re-Entry’s just before Lockdown. We are anticipating an increase as businesses struggle under the new environment. If you think you might require our assistance with a Re-Entry  don’t hesitate contact us or visit Re-Entrys on our website.

 

Work Address

 

For the foreseeable future we will be working from

1/1 Parliament Street

Auckland CBD 1010

We are right across the road from the High Court.

 

You can courier documents to the above address. There is an onsite manager who happens to be an ex PI that I used to do some work with.

Documents can be mailed to PO Box 554, Shortland Street, AUCKLAND 1140

We continue to offer a free pick up across Greater Auckland

 

Should you have any questions or if there is anything that we can do don’t hesitate to contact me

 

Regards

 

 

 

Mike

 

 

0800 746384                     aucklandinvestigations.co.nz       mike@aucklandinvestigations.co.nz