HOW TO SERVE THE SUMMONS WITH THE COURT COMPLAINT

Plaintiff pro se cannot serve his or her own Summons and Complaint to the defendant and his/her attorneys. Someone else age 18 or older should and can serve-anyone other than Plaintiff.

  • The Complaint must be served with the Summons. But the Summons must be signed and sealed by the Court Clerk before they can be served.

  • The Summons and the Complaint must be served to the Defendant and his/her attorney(s). If the Defendant is U.S. agency (Secretary of U. S. Department of Health and Human Services, for example), one copy should be sent to the Secretary’s office, another to U. S. Attorney General’s Office, and another to the U. S. Attorney in the local federal district where the District Court is located—where you filed your discrimination Complaint.

  • The Summons and the Complaint must be served via U. S. Certified Mail only, not by any other carriers such as FedEx, UPS, or U.S. Express Mail, Priority Mail, or First Class Mail. Return receipt is not necessary. Tracking is necessary, so that you can prove your service and the date of service.

  • Once the Summons and the Complaint are served, you must submit to the Court a proof of your service. The form for proving your service is attached to the Summons (the second page of the Summons). Fill it out and submit it to the Court with the postal receipt showing your U. S. Certified Mail shipment.

  • Service to each and every Defendant and Defendant’s attorney must be proven. Thus, for a federal employment discrimination complaint filed at U.S. District Court, a proof of service to the Defendant (the Secretary) must be submitted to the Court. Another proof of service must be submitted to prove that U. S. Attorney General was served. And another copy to show that the U. S. Attorney in the local federal district was served.

  • Beware of Court Clerks who do not (want to) sign and seal your Summons, as you must serve your Summons and the Complaint within 90 days of your filing the Complaint at the U. S. Federal District Court. If the Clerk does not send you the signed and sealed Summons, write to him or her and asked for them, indicating the docket number and the date of your filing.

Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (FRCP)

4(i)(1) requires:

(A) that “a copy of the summons and of the complaint [be delivered] to the United States attorney for the district where the action in brought…”

(B) that “a copy of each [summons and the complaint be sent] by registered or certified mail to the Attorney General of the United States at Washington, D.C.; and”

4(i)(2) provides: “To serve a United States agency or corporation, or a United States officer or employee sued only in an official capacity, a party must serve the United States and also send a copy of the summons and of the complaint by registered or certified mail to the agency, corporation, officer, or employee.”

 Beware of some devious Court Clerks - an article on LinkedIn by Chungsoo Lee.