A tenant was convinced he could refuse the paperwork. Television had taught him one thing. Real life taught him another.
A constable arrives at a mobile home park to serve paperwork related to nonpayment of rent. Before the conversation can even begin, the resident launches into complaints about management, the condition of the park, and why he refuses to accept the documents.
Confident that refusing the papers will somehow stop the process, the tenant makes his stand. The problem? Civil process doesn't work the way it does in movies and television. Service is governed by law, not by whether someone agrees to cooperate.
It's Not the Movies is a true story about one of the most common misconceptions in civil process: the belief that refusing paperwork makes it disappear. Sometimes the biggest challenge isn't serving the papers—it's overcoming what people think they know from Hollywood.
