Rule 4. Process; Summons

The summons is issued by the clerk through the electronic filing system. No summons shall be signed in blank, and no summons shall be delivered to a party or to a party’s attorney for completion, alteration, or issuance.

A summons is issued for each defendant or respondent party recorded upon the case. A party who is not recorded as a case party cannot be summoned; the party shall first be added as Rule 17.1 provides.

Upon the commencement of the action the plaintiff may request the clerk to issue a summons to each defendant. The clerk shall issue it unless the case is not active or the matter is one in which no summons issues under Rule 4(1)(5).

Upon issuance, the electronic filing system notifies the summoned party, affords that party the summons in a generated form, and records the issuance in the audit record of the case.

No summons issues in a workflow-owned matter or in a case that is not active. A matter of the warrant, expungement, or ex parte type generates its own instrument through the workflow that owns it, and Rules 5.4, Rid. R. Crim. P. 36 through 38, and Rid. R. Crim. P. 44 and 44.1 govern.

Re-issuance. The clerk may re-issue a summons upon the request of a party or upon the court’s order, without limit as to number. Each re-issuance bears its own date, re-notifies the summoned party, and is separately audited. Re-issuance does not enlarge the period fixed by Rule 4(7) except upon order of the court.

bear the name of the State of Ridgeway and the name of the court and county in which the action is pending;

bear the case number and the title of the action, and name the parties;

be directed to the defendant by username;

state the username of the plaintiff’s attorney of record or, if the plaintiff is self-represented, of the plaintiff;

state the time within which these rules require the defendant to appear and defend;

notify the defendant that upon failure to appear and defend, judgment by default may be entered against him under Rule 37 for the relief demanded in the complaint;

bear the signature or facsimile signature of the clerk and be under the seal of the court, the clerk being the keeper of the seal under 3 R. Stat. §§ 121.206 and 131.105; and

bear teste of the judge or justice to whom it is returnable, or, where no judge has been assigned, of the chief judge of the court. The instrument generated by the electronic filing system upon the clerk’s issuance satisfies this subdivision. A defect in form is reached by motion under Rule 4(11) and not by disregard of the summons.

All process in civil actions runs throughout the State and is directed to the sheriffs of the State, as 7 R. Stat. § 131.101 provides.

Process shall be served by the sheriff of the county in which the person to be served is found, as 7 R. Stat. § 131.102 provides. Service by the sheriff is the default manner of service, and no other manner is available except as this rule, another rule, or a statute provides.

Process of the Supreme Court may be executed by the Marshal of the Supreme Court or a deputy marshal throughout the State, and the Marshal may deputize the sheriff or a deputy sheriff for that purpose, as 3 R. Stat. § 121.304 provides.

The court may, upon the request of a party or upon its own initiative, order that service be made by a person specially appointed for that purpose. A person specially appointed shall be of full capacity, shall not be a party, and shall not be an attorney of record in the action except as Rule 4(8) permits.

Any other person authorized by law to serve process may do so.

A subpoena is served as Rule 32 provides. Process other than a summons or a subpoena is served as Rule 4.1 provides.

Upon an individual. By delivering a copy of the summons and of the complaint to that individual personally, in-game or in this State; or by delivering a copy of each to an agent authorized by appointment or by statute to receive service of process for that individual, and giving any further notice such statute requires.

Upon a corporation. By delivering a copy of the summons and of the complaint to the registered agent of the corporation or to a corporate officer, as 7 R. Stat. § 131.104 provides. A domestic and a foreign corporation are served alike.

Upon an agency, department, or officer of a county or municipal government. By delivering a copy of the summons and of the complaint to the administrative head of the agency or department, and, where an individual government officer is named in the action, upon that officer, as 7 R. Stat. § 131.105 provides.

Upon the State of Ridgeway. By delivering a copy of the summons and of the complaint to the Attorney General or to the Solicitor General, as 7 R. Stat. § 131.106 provides. Where the action is against an individual in an official capacity as an agent of the government, and is therefore a case against the government under 7 R. Stat. § 122.004, service shall be made under this paragraph and upon the individual named.

Upon an authority, board, committee, or similar entity subject to suit under a common name. By delivering a copy of the summons and of the complaint to its chairman or other chief executive officer.

Where the person cannot be found. If the person authorized to serve process makes return that after diligent search he can find neither the defendant nor any agent upon whom service may be made under this subdivision, the court may, upon the application of the plaintiff, issue an order of notice prescribing a manner of notice reasonably calculated under the circumstances to apprise the defendant of the pendency of the action, which may include posting in the proceeding communications of the case, notice in-game at the defendant’s usual place of resort, and direct message to the defendant’s account. The order shall fix the time within which the notice shall be given and the time after which service is complete.

Where the validity of an official order is questioned. In any action in which the validity of an order of an officer or agency of the State, of a county, or of a municipality is in any way brought into question, the party questioning the validity shall forthwith forward a copy of the pleading raising the question to the Attorney General.

If service of the summons and complaint is not made upon a defendant within seven (7) days after the filing of the complaint, and the party on whose behalf such service was required cannot show good cause why such service was not made within that period, the action shall be dismissed as to that defendant without prejudice, upon motion or upon the court’s own initiative with notice to that party.

The period runs continuously, in Coordinated Universal Time, from the filing date of the complaint, without regard to weekends, holidays, or court hours.

No system enforcement. The electronic filing system computes no deadline and enforces none. It records a served-at time upon the party record when a clerk enters one, and that record drives nothing. The period fixed by this subdivision is self-executing as a matter of law and is policed by the parties and the court alone. No dismissal occurs automatically, and no dismissal is effective until an order is entered.

Upon a showing of good cause, the court shall extend the time for service for an appropriate period. In lieu of dismissal the court may direct that service be made within a time it specifies and may order the summons re-issued under Rule 4(1)(6).

Dismissal under this subdivision is as to the unserved defendant only and does not affect the action as to any defendant served.

Upon motion, or upon its own initiative, the court may order that service of the summons and complaint be made by direct message to the account of the person to be served, or by delivery in the proceeding communications of the case, where service by the sheriff has been attempted and has failed, where the person to be served is beyond the practicable reach of a sheriff, or where the circumstances otherwise make such service the manner most likely to give actual notice.

An attorney of record may effect service so ordered. Where an attorney does so, proof shall be made as Rule 4.2(4) requires, by a demonstration before the judge in photograph, animated image, or video form showing the delivery, the account to which it was made, and the documents delivered.

An order under this subdivision shall specify the person to be served, the manner and address or account of delivery, the documents to be delivered, and the time within which service shall be made and proof filed.

Service by messaging is not available of right. The sheriff is the server of default, and an order under this subdivision is required before any other person serves the summons and complaint, except a person specially appointed under Rule 4(3)(4) or authorized by law under Rule 4(3)(5).

A person subject to service may accept service by filing a written acceptance under the proof-of-service filing code, signed by that person’s electronic signature, identifying the case number, the documents received, and the date and time of receipt. Service is thereupon complete as of the time stated, and no return by a server is required.

Acceptance of service, and appearance in the action, waive no defense other than the sufficiency of process and of service of process, and waive neither an objection to venue nor an objection to the jurisdiction of the court over the person, unless that objection is omitted as Rule 12 requires it to be raised.

A party who appears and does not raise insufficiency of process or insufficiency of service of process in the manner and at the time Rule 12 requires waives that objection.

Process runs throughout the State. Service of a summons under this rule upon a person subject to the jurisdiction of the courts of this State establishes the jurisdiction of the court over that person.

A person, whether or not a resident of this State, who personally or through an agent does any of the acts enumerated in 7 R. Stat. § 131.107 thereby submits himself, and if a natural person his personal representative, to the jurisdiction of the courts of this State as to any cause of action arising from that act. Those acts are: operating, conducting, engaging in, or carrying on a business or business venture in this State, or having an office or agency in this State; committing a tortious act within this State; owning, using, possessing, or holding a rental property, mortgage, or other lien on real property within this State; contracting to insure a person, property, or risk located within this State at the time of contracting; causing injury to persons or property within this State arising out of an act or omission outside this State in the circumstances that section specifies; and breaching a contract in this State by failing to perform acts required by the contract to be performed in this State.

A complaint asserting jurisdiction under 7 R. Stat. § 131.107 shall plead the act relied upon and the connection between that act and the cause of action, as Rule 3(4)(3) requires.

An action against a defendant who does not bear residency of this State is brought in the county fixed by 7 R. Stat. §§ 131.001 and 131.002, and Rule 55.1 governs.