§ 25-1409.Revivor; procedure; service of order by publication.

Section 25-1408 requires that a non-consent revivor order be served like a summons. Section 25-1409 covers what happens when that ordinary service is not possible. If the plaintiff makes an affidavit that the defendant’s representatives — the people in whose name the action is to be revived — are nonresidents of Nebraska, have left the state to dodge service, have concealed themselves so the order cannot be served, or that their names and residences are unknown to the plaintiff, the statute allows notice by publication instead.

That published notice runs once a week for four successive weeks, following the same manner set out in § 25-519. It has to notify the representatives to appear on a named day and show cause why the action should not be revived against them, and that named day has to fall at least ten days after the publication is complete. If sufficient cause is not shown by that day, the action stands revived, the same outcome as under § 25-1408 when personal service goes unanswered.

This publication mechanism exists because a case cannot stall indefinitely just because a deceased defendant’s successors are hard to locate or unwilling to be found. It gives the plaintiff a way to move the case forward while still providing the absent representatives a genuine, if public, opportunity to object.