CivilMap in The Docket – Denver Bar Association

Locally Designed Smart Phone App Renovates Process Serving

1 page pdf download – CivilMap – The Docket, Feb 2010

Made in Colorado: CivilMap: A handy dandy tech tool using GPS for process serving
Release date on iPhone: Dec. 15, 2009
Release date for other smart phones: 2nd half of 2010
Cost: $150–$400
Consumer Response: overwhelming, global, successful
Owner/Inventor: Mike Kingery of Montrose, Colo.

Background: This smart phone application, CivilMap, helps document process serving in real time.

By using the application on their phones, process servers in the field can now send data and audio records, complete with time stamps and GPS location. The field information is sent to a database, which is accessible to attorneys.

Before inventing CivilMap, owner Mike Kingery worked in the finance industry in Denver. He moved to Montrose, and was looking for a transition out of commercial lending, when an attorney friend suggested that he start a process serving company. As a process server, he said he found common inefficiencies in the industry. He began working with some developers and built the CivilMap app. He then filled out forms and sent them to Apple’s iPhone apps department. iPhone launched the software on Dec. 15, 2009. The cost to consumers is tiered, so that solos and large firms can invest in the tool.

How has the response been since the iPhone app launch?

“It’s so popular, it’s actually scary. We’ve got lots of work now,” said a joyful Kingery. “I can’t believe no one has come up with a solution like this before.”

Kingery has filed an application for a U.S. Patent. Already, leaders of the Colorado and National Associations of Process Servers have contacted him.

What does the future hold for CivilMap of Colorado? Lots. Kingery says the tool should be available for other smart phones by year’s end.

CivilMap has locations in Colorado Springs, Grand Junction, Montrose, Denver, Pueblo and Salt Lake City. Kingery’s goal is to build a national network of process servers that use the software. The network would serve attorneys with a familiar name and standard procedures that take the doubt out of the service of process. Look for CivilMap to sponsor DBA-related charities.

- Christine McManus, The Docket, February 2010, p. 5