Laws Governing Process Serving in United States
Many states have process serving laws that govern how process is served, the licensing requirements for effecting service, the forms to be used, and the time deadlines for serving process on individual respondents and corporations. These distinctions may be significant.
- In New York, for example, service of process may necessitate the licensing of the process server;
- in Pennsylvania, process may only be served by the sheriff or a sheriff’s deputy in most cases (except in Philadelphia, where process may be served “by any competent adult”);
- and in New Jersey, process is effected if, after making an affidavit that diligent efforts to effect personal service had failed, the party sends two copies of the pleading by mail—one Most courts, from local small claims courts to United States District courts, have specific procedures and rules.
Each court has its own set of rules, forms, guidelines, and procedures that must be followed in order to successfully serve process. Failure to adhere to these guidelines may result in the attempted service being deemed ineffective. Indeed, many defendants in court use the affirmative defense of “I was not served” as a frequently successful line of defense in any lawsuit. Not surprisingly, because service of process on the defendant did not follow legal procedure, this defense is effective in many cases. For federal courts in the United States, service of process rules are contained in the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, upon which most state service of process laws are based.
