05 LC 25
4036
House
Bill 705
By:
Representatives Forster of the
3rd,
Tumlin of the
38th,
Mitchell of the
88th,
Powell of the
29th,
and Lindsey of the
54th
A
BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
AN ACT
To
amend Code Section 9-11-4 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to
process in civil practice, so as to provide for service upon persons residing in
gated and secured communities; to provide for state-wide registration of
permanent process servers; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other
purposes.
BE
IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF GEORGIA:
SECTION
1.
Code
Section 9-11-4 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to process in
civil practice, is amended in subsection (f) by adding a new paragraph to read
as follows:
"(4)
SERVICE UPON
PERSONS RESIDING IN GATED AND SECURED
COMMUNITIES. Any person authorized to
serve process shall be granted access to gated and secured communities for a
reasonable period of time for the purpose of performing lawful service of
process upon identifying to the guard or managing agent the person or persons to
be served, displaying a current
driveŕs
license or other identification, and displaying evidence of current appointment
as a process server pursuant to subsection (m) of this Code section. Upon
refusal of a guard or managing agent to comply with this paragraph, the process
may be served upon that guard or managing agent, and shall be as effective as if
served on the defendant
personally."
SECTION
2.
Said
Code section is further amended by adding a new subsection to read as
follows:
"(m)
State-wide
registration of permanent process servers.
A person who files with the clerk of a superior court a motion stating that the
movant has been a bona fide resident of the State of Georgia and engaged in the
process serving industry for at least one year immediately preceding the motion
and that the movant will faithfully serve process in accordance with the law,
and who otherwise complies with any procedures and requirements set forth by the
Judicial Council of Georgia in any rules or regulations regarding this
subsection shall, absent good cause shown, be appointed as a permanent process
server by the superior court in the county where the motion is filed, and the
clerk shall ensure the appointment is registered with the Judicial Council of
Georgia. Said registration shall be maintained until such approval is withdrawn
by the court upon good cause shown. The Judicial Council of Georgia shall
maintain a register for this purpose. Such permanent process server shall be
entitled to serve in such capacity for any court of the state, anywhere within
the
state."
SECTION
3.
All
laws and parts of laws in conflict with this Act are repealed.