Rule 43.Service of Other Documents After Service of the Summons, Petition, and Order to Appear

Once the summons, petition or order to appear has been served, the heavy machinery of Rule 41 switches off and Rule 43 takes over. Contempt petitions are the exception; Rule 39(a)(3) keeps them on personal service.

Serve the attorney

If a party is represented, service must be made on the attorney unless the court orders otherwise or a specific rule requires service on the party.

The five methods

• Handing it to the person.
• Leaving it at the person's office with a clerk or person in charge -- or, if nobody is in charge, in a conspicuous place in the office; and if the person has no office or it is closed, at the dwelling or usual place of abode with someone of suitable age and discretion who resides there.
• Mailing it by U.S. mail or national courier to the last-known address, in which case service is complete upon mailing -- not on delivery, and not on receipt.
• Any other means, including electronic, if the recipient consents in writing or the court orders it, in which case service is complete upon transmission.
• Through an approved electronic filing service provider under ACJA section 1-901.

Note the difference between the last two. Emailing a document to opposing counsel requires written consent. Filing it through the court's approved electronic filing service provider does not.

The certificate, and what silence means

The date and manner of service must be noted on the last page of the served document or in a separate certificate, in substantially the form the rule sets out. If the precise manner is not noted, service is presumed to have been by mail -- but that presumption applies only if service in some form was actually made. It cures a defective description, never a missing service.

After judgment, original process returns

Section (c) is the provision most easily missed. Once the time to appeal has expired or the judgment has become final after appeal, a motion, petition or other pleading to modify, vacate or enforce that judgment must be served in the same manner as a summons and pleading under Rule 40(f)(1) or Rule 41. A post-decree petition mailed to the other side's last attorney is not served.