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Can we serve process on defendants' lawyer?

Lawsuits And Disputes 2 views 3 answers
We served process on defendants in our civil lawsuit. This service was done in a foreign country, and we think the service is valid, but there is some doubt whether it conforms to Florida law. An attorney has made a written appearance for the defendants that were served, but he has made no answer to the complaint nor has he filed a motion to dismiss. The only thing he did was file a motion for extension to file a pleading. In that motion, he made a vague claim that the defendants were not served. He never scheduled a hearing on the motion, and the motion was not granted. The question is: Can we serve process on defendants' attorney, now that he has made an appearance? The only reason to do this is to deflect possible challenge of the service of process that we already made.

Attorney Answers

3
Heather MorcroftFamily Law AttorneyWinter Park, FL ·
Not unless the attorney has agreed to accept service or the defendant has submitted to the jurisdiction of the court by virtue of the documents filed by the attorney. This can be tricky. You will probably need an attorney to review this for a specific opinion, and you still may have to argue it out in court. The action will most likely sit there until you do something.
0 upvotes
James JuoIntellectual Property Law AttorneyLos Angeles, CA ·
While you can serve other pleadings, motions, etc. on the attorney, if service on the defendant of the summons and complaint was defective, serving them again on the attorney may not cure that defect. In general, and depending on the jurisdiction (state or federal), a defect in the service of the summons and complaint is waived if the defendant took affirmative steps to defend the case and failed to raise the issue of defective service of process in its answer or a motion to dismiss.  I would not expect a request for an extension of time to answer a complaint would in itself be a waiver of the defective service, but that may depend on whether you are in federal or state court.
0 upvotes
Guy Dimartino ·
You should see a lawyer because service of process is a tricky issue. You have not provided the nature of the action. Different actions can have different methods of service and substitute service. Unlike federal court state court doesn't require a notice of appearance so there is an issue of whether you can serve the attorney. You can push the issue now by filing a motion for default judgement. Send it to the parties and the attorney and see if he attorney files a responsive pleading. This response is for educational purposes only and is not providing legal advice or establishing an attorney client relationship.
0 upvotes

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