Heredia v. Contino

Memorandum. Judgment unanimously reversed, with $10 costs to defendant, and new trial ordered.

A sheriff is liable to the one he serves for negligently making out a false return of service (Green v. Ferguson, 14 Johns. 389 [1817]). In our view, a professional process server should be held to substantially the same liability imposed upon sheriffs. By signing an affidavit of personal service without reading it, when in fact service had been made by “ nail and mail ”, defendant breached the duty he owed to plaintiff, the defendant in the prior proceeding. The resulting default judgment in that…