Patent ID: 8396765

Claim:
A method for managing, distributing, and serving court-related documents, the method being carried out by a number of different entities, including subscriber companies (SC), law service providers (LSP), clerks of court (COC), and process servers (PS), with each of the entities communicating over a computer network and a court sponsored e-filing system, the method comprising the following steps: the SC receiving a job request, job details, and court-related documents from an LSP over the network; the SC either accepting or declining the job request based upon the job details and the court-related documents; notifying the LSP via the network whether the SC has declined or accepted the job request; providing a database accessible by the SC, the database including a listing of various PS in different geographic areas; the SC assigning an accepted job request to a particular PS, updating the database to reflect that the particular SC has been the accepted job request; the database graphically listing all accepted jobs, the assigned PS, the job details, the court-related documents, and any uploaded attachments; the SC delivering the court-related documents for an accepted job to the COC via the court sponsored e-filing system, the COC issuing service copies of the court-related documents; delivering the job request, job details, and service copies of the court-related documents to the assigned PS via the network; the PS retrieving the service copies of the court-related documents from the SC via the network; the PS attempting to serve the service copies of the court-related documents, the PS logging into the database via personalized login credentials and inputting information regarding the PS' attempted service; after completing the service of the court-related documents, the PS generating an affidavit of service and affixing his/her electronic signature, the affidavit of service thereafter delivered to the LSP via the network.