SENATE  BILL  36
SAVING ON SUBPOENA SERVICE COSTS 

It’s not that we don’t trust the U.S. Post Office - though we wonder why a letter sent from Toledo to Newport has to be routed through Salem - but we do not favor this bill. SB 36 would allow service of a subpoena by certified/registered return receipt mail, instead of by a process server, when the time or date of a court appearance has been changed. 

We think the idea of a subpoena served by a process server, with its built-in protections and assurance of actual receipt and actual knowledge by the person served, was one of the great ideas of English common law. Not all things new are worthy. The possibility that a person may move, be ill, or get divorced and have the ex-spouse sign for him or her in spite - not to mention the possibility of plaintiff deceit, prosecutorial misbehavior or court error - were present back in Merry Ole England. They have not disappeared. Kill this bill.

Ed Johnston 541-336-1233