Lessons · Law foundations · service of process
Service of process, step by step
Service is the formal delivery of the case papers to the other side, done by a permitted method and then proved to the court in writing.
Hone is a place to practise a career, one idea a day. This is one of its lessons, written out in full and free to read without an account.
What it is for
Service is where files die. A defendant who was never properly served can have everything that followed undone months later, and the only thing standing between the office and that morning is a signed record that says who was handed what, where, and when.
How to think about it
Three questions, in order: who has to be served, what has to be handed over, and by what method the rules of that court allow. Then prove it, in writing, and file the proof.
Worked example
Who: the named defendant, or the person the rules allow to take it for them.A company is served through the person its rules name, not through whoever answers the door.
What: a copy of the complaint and whatever the court issues with it.The whole packet. A missing page is a gift to the other side.
How: by a method that court allows, by somebody allowed to do it.Often not a party to the case, and often with an age or licence requirement.
Then the server swears what was handed over, to whom, where and when, and it goes to the court.The clock for the answer runs from this delivery, so the date on that record is the date the whole file counts from.
Your turn
Write the word for the sworn record of service that is filed with the court.
The server's sworn record, filed with the court: the of service
Solve one, graded on the server
The trap
Recording the date the papers were posted or handed to the server as the date of service. The date that counts is the date the other side received them in the way the rules allow, and every deadline computed from the wrong date is wrong by the same number of days.