Personal injury.
Defendant service, medical-records subpoenas, witness statements, and SDTs on treating physicians.
Personal injury practice runs on two parallel tracks: getting the named defendants served so the case can move forward, and pulling together the documentary evidence — medical records, witness statements, employer records, accident reports — that supports the damages claim. Servd handles both. We serve the complaint on the named defendant driver, employer, premises owner, or insurance-listed registered agent. We serve medical-records subpoenas duces tecum on hospitals and treating physicians under CCP §1985.3 (consumer notice) where required. We coordinate witness-statement appointments and serve OSC papers when a recalcitrant witness needs to be brought in.
Defendant service in PI often runs into the same evasion problem as family law — defendants who know a lawsuit is filed and stop answering the door. We handle the diligence record, the sub-service substitute, and the eventual posting motion if it comes to that. We also coordinate with the defendant's insurance carrier where the carrier is willing to accept service on behalf of an insured, and we serve corporate fleet owners through their registered agents.
Medical-records SDTs are their own discipline. CCP §1985.3 requires notice to the consumer (the patient — usually your client) before subpoenaing personal records, with a 15-day notice window before the SDT is served on the records custodian. We track both deadlines and serve the SDT on day 16. Custodians return records to a copy service or to your firm per the SDT's instructions; we hand off cleanly.
What we handle
The matters our intake chat is trained for. If your case looks like one of these, the workflow already knows it.
What's hard about this and how we handle it
The specific challenges the workflow is designed for.
Defendant driver evasion
The other driver knows there's a lawsuit. They move, change phones, leave the state. We run skip trace at intake when the last-known address is more than 90 days old, and we document diligence across multiple addresses for sub-service authorization.
Medical-records consumer notice
CCP §1985.3 requires service of a notice to the consumer (your client) at least 15 days before the SDT is served on the records custodian. We track the 15-day clock from the day you provide consumer info; we serve the SDT on day 16 unless you ask us to hold. Late-served SDTs are quashable.
Hospital records custodian access
Major hospital systems route SDTs through a centralized records office, not the hospital itself. We know the correct address for each major system in our coverage area and serve the right desk the first time — avoiding the rejected-SDT loop that costs your associates a week.
Treating physician service
Treating-physician SDTs serve at the physician's practice address, not their home. We confirm the address through the medical board license database before dispatch, so an SDT doesn't bounce because the physician moved practices.
Statute of limitations pressure
PI complaints filed close to the 2-year SOL deadline need service within 60 days under CCP §583.210 (or §583.250 mandatory dismissal after 3 years). Rush and same-day work is dispatched first; we treat any SOL-flagged matter as priority.
Services for this work
The Servd services most commonly used on these matters.
Questions
What paralegals and pro se litigants ask most often.
Will you handle the §1985.3 consumer notice?
We will serve the SDT once you provide notice to your client (the consumer) per §1985.3. If you want us to serve the consumer notice as well, that is a separate serve. We can also send the consumer notice via mail if your firm prefers. Either way we track the 15-day clock.
Can you find a defendant who moved?
Yes. Skip trace at intake — $80 flat — locates current address and we dispatch service to the result. For PI work we typically bundle skip + serve as one case so the timeline is uninterrupted.
Do you serve insurance carriers?
Yes, when the carrier has agreed to accept service for an insured. We deliver to the carrier's claims-handling address and return a signed proof of service identifying the carrier as the accepting party. We do not engage in coverage discussions.
How fast can you serve a treating physician SDT?
Standard 5-day. Rush 24 hours. If your address is stale we'll log the failed attempt with photo + GPS proof, then either dispatch to a fresh address you provide or run skip-trace as a paid add-on.
Do you serve records subpoenas on out-of-state hospitals?
We serve records-custodian subpoenas in all 50 states. Cross-border subpoenas (e.g., a California-issued subpoena for a New York custodian) usually require domestication under UIDDA in the destination state — we handle the local filing and serve once domesticated.
Ready to start your personal injury case?
The intake chat is built for this work. Drop the documents, confirm the caption, dispatch.