A decision handed down last week by a Staten Island, N.Y., judge suggests a way for people to avoid being served, provided they have sufficiently large and mature-looking children.

When Wells Fargo Bank Minnesota sought to serve John and April Romano notice of its motion to vacate a judgment of foreclosure and sale, the server handed the papers to a person he later described as approximately 5-foot-11, 180 pounds and 23 years old, and wearing three earrings in his right ear.