I love it when people refuse certified mail from my law firm, it makes my job so much easier. Whether I'm suing you because you're delinquent on a debt, or because you caused an injury to my client, when you ignore or refuse the documents I send you, you're essentially putting yourself on notice, and not making me do any work.
If you're involved in some sort of legal action (or you believe you might be), it's never a wise idea to ignore materials that come by certified mail or private process server. These are usually very important, and the state's laws provide a particular time period to file an answer and avoid a default judgment (check out this post).
Many people also believe that if they refuse to accept delivery of a certified letter, their refusal will act as a legal protection for them. Unfortunately, this is utterly bogus. Oklahoma's laws provide methods for continuing with the lawsuit even though you "refused" to accept service of the document. 12 O.S. 2004(C)(2)(c). For you, the show will go on, and the opposing party will likely get a default judgment against you. Your decisions to ignore the case are actually jeopardizing your case.
I have one case, a probate matter, where one party continues to "refuse" to accept my certified letters. I'm sure this individual believes that his/her refusal is a clever method to thwart my efforts on behalf of the estate. However, what the individual does not realize is that his/her refusal only enables me to move on with the probate duties.
So, it's my opinion, that if you're going to believe you're smarter than the attorney when it comes to legal matters, you deserve what ever punishment you receive. While hiring an attorney may be a costly decision, the value you receive from him or her will preserve much of your insanity.
If you received legal documents that you're trying to ignore, get some help now. The problem will not go away, and your lax approach may actually cost you some defenses and protections you could have. If you need to speak with an attorney, give me a call at (405) 748-0318, or send an email to , ask for Jeff Taylor. You can bet that the other attorney is working hard for their client, yours should too.