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2002 FINAL STATELEGISLATIVE PROGRAM CONTROVERSIAL ISSUE ISSUE: SUBSTITUTED SERVICE OF PROCESS SUMMARY: The MSBA opposed a bill in the 1998 General Assembly that would have authorized substituted service of process in civil actions upon resident agents of insurance companies when defendants could not be located. The 1998 legislation was proposed as a solution to the problem faced by plaintiffs who are unable to locate a party for service of process. If passed, the bill would have placed resident agents of insurers in the place of defendants in order to allow litigation to move forward. The MSBA Board of Governors, acting on the recommendation of the Committee on Laws and the Section of Litigation voted to oppose the measure because it would have unfairly burdened the counsel for the defense without providing compensation to deserving plaintiffs. Lawyers who are unable to find their clients face significant handicaps in defense of any matter, and insurance carriers would in all likelihood refuse to pay in these cases leaving plaintiffs no better off than before the substituted service of process. After the 1998 measure was voted out of the House Judiciary Committee on a 13-7 vote, additional questions about how the law would affect existing Rules of Procedure were raised by the MSBA, the Maryland Judicial Conference and the insurance industry. These arguments found a more favorable reception with the full House of Delegates which voted to defeat the bill 72-55. In 1999, proponents of the substituted service bill of the prior session offered to work with opponents of that measure to achieve a satisfactory statute to assist plaintiffs in locating hard to find defendants. The result was legislation that requires a defendant’s insurer to provide plaintiffs with information about the defendant’s last known home address when previous efforts to locate the defendants have failed. A modest clarification of this bill passed in 2000. No bills on substituted service of process were submitted in 2001. MSBA 2002 POSITION: Monitor substituted service of process legislation until a bill is available. SAMPLE LEGISLATION:
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