VI Service of Process

Subpoenas for the production of records (duces tecum) shall be received by the City Recorder and distributed to the designated employees in each department/division responsible for the records requested.

Subpoenas for criminal court appearance for prosecuting agencies shall be received by departmental policy and distributed to the department/division secretaries to be distributed to the subpoenaed employees. Secretaries must make an attempt to notify off-duty employees at their residence if they will not be at work prior to the appearance date listed on the subpoena. Any employee subpoenaed must take the subpoena to court at the time of the court appearance.

1. With the exception of subpoenas for prosecuting agencies and records subpoenas, all West Valley City employees must be served legal documents in person. Such legal documents include, but are not limited to, a Summons and Complaint in which the employee is named as a party to the action, a subpoena to appear in court, and an administrative subpoena. The City Recorder is not authorized to accept personal service of other legal documents on behalf of any employee. The City Recorder can only accept service of other legal documents on behalf of West Valley City as an entity or municipal corporation.

2. If a process server approaches any employee in order to serve legal documents upon another West Valley City employee, the approached employee:

a. will not furnish the process server with any personal information about the identified employee, including but not limited to, home address and/or phone number;

b. will not accept service of the documents on behalf of another employee;

c. will tell the process server if the employee is not on duty or is otherwise unavailable;

d. will provide the process server with the scheduled workdays and shift of the employee to be served;

e. will have the department/division secretary or dispatch call the employee to come to the department/division office for the service to be made, if the employee is working and not busy.

3. In the event that the employee to be served is unavailable and the process server wants more information about the employee or demands that service be accepted, refer the process server to the City Attorney’s Office.

4. Once an employee has been personally served with any legal document in connection with a job or City related incident, lawsuit, investigation or claim, the employee should notify his/her supervisor and the City Attorney’s office, as soon as possible after being served since often response times in legal proceedings are very short and require immediate attention.