More time given to scour Miss. child support cases

State News

August 5, 2010

Associated Press Associated Press Thu Aug 05, 2010, 08:45 AM CDT

JACKSON — A judge has given a company with a $23 million contract to handle Mississippi’s child support cases more time to gather information for a probe into whether some process servers lied about delivering subpoenas.

Officials are also trying to determine whether there were child support payment orders rendered against defendants who never received a subpoena. An order can be entered even if the defendant doesn’t show up in court.

Rob Wells, president of YoungWilliams Child Support Services, appeared Tuesday before Hinds County Chancery Judge Denise Sweet Owens.

The company is reviewing hundreds of child support cases in which questions have been raised about the actions of the process servers who deliver documents notifying people that they must appear in court.

YoungWilliams has a contract with the state Department of Human Services to file at least 30,000 child support court cases in several counties. So far, the company has filed some 15,000 cases and about 6,000 of those are in Hinds County, Wells said.

Owens is holding hearings looking into the activity of Guy Jernigan and Michael Fisher, who have been accused of claiming to serve subpoenas to people who never received the documents. Jernigan and Fisher worked for two companies that had contracted with YoungWilliams.

Owens told Wells to get exact figures on the Hinds County cases involving Fisher and Jernigan. She continued the case until Sept. 14.

“Time is of the essence. We have cases set. When they show up, we need to know if we should go forward,” Owens said.

Fisher, who worked for Pelahatchie-based State of Mississippi Processors, successfully served 449 subpoenas between January and April, Wells told Owens.

He said Fisher’s affidavits had a worksheet attached that included details about the appearance of the person being served.

“His percentage of success rate looked to be in a reasonable range,” Wells said.

Attorney Joshua Turner of Oxford, who represents Fisher, said his client is waiting for an opportunity to defend himself.

“There’s no finding he’s done anything wrong,” Turner said.

Jan Schaefer, spokeswoman for Attorney General Jim Hood, said she couldn’t deny or confirm whether Hood’s office was investigating the matter. However, representatives from the attorney general’s office were in court on Tuesday.

Don Thompson, executive director of the Department of Human Services, has declined requests for interviews about the situation. In a letter to The Associated Press, Thompson said it will be determined at a later date whether YoungWilliams’ contract will be renewed after it expires Sept. 30.

Thompson also said it would be “premature” to answer a question about whether DHS was satisfied with YoungWilliams’ performance.

Attorney Arthur Jernigan, who represented his son, 24-year-old Guy Jernigan, disputed allegations that his son had committed fraud.

Wells has said that Guy Jernigan, who worked for First Fidelity Trust Services, Inc., was involved in about 200 cases statewide, but only 14 in Hinds County.

Last month, Chancellor Neil Harris found Guy Jernigan and two others in contempt of court for filing false affidavits and ordered them to pay $88,500 in sanctions and serve jail time until the money was paid.

In court documents, Harris has said Jernigan claimed he served a woman who was in jail and couldn’t receive a subpoena and another who had been dead for two years.

Guy Jernigan has appealed Harris’ order to the Mississippi Supreme Court.

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