The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure have charted a deliberate course toward a more flexible, cooperative system for service of process, reducing some of the gamesmanship that used to accompany the opening act of a lawsuit filed in federal court. But, as several recent cases from the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York make clear, service of process must still be done very much by-the-book, and the flexibility embodied in the rules only goes so far.
Waiver of Service
In 1993, Federal Rule of Procedure 4, which governs service of process, was amended to ease the financial burdens and delay of serving a summons and complaint on a civil defendant. This effort to streamline service of process included the addition of Rule 4(d), providing for waiver of actual service upon consent of the defendant. Rule 4(d)(1) allows a plaintiff to send by first class mail or other reliable means of delivery the complaint, along with a request for waiver of service. The rule affords additional time to answer for a defendant who executes the waiver.1 If a defendant fails, without good cause, to execute the waiver, the plaintiff can seek, and the court is required to impose, the costs incurred in effecting actual service.2
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