You’ve Been Served- Now What?

You’ve Been Served - LloydWinter Law

If you’ve been served a notice that you’re being sued, you may feel overwhelmed. But if your stress response is to flee or freeze, resist that urge. Failure to respond on time once you’ve been served can result in the court entering a default judgment against you.

You need to respond in a timely manner, but you don’t have to do it without legal guidance. In this blog post, we’ll discuss:

  • What Does It Mean to Be Served
  • Reasons You May Get Served
  • How to Know if You’ve Been Served with a Lawsuit
  • Responding to a Complaint After You’ve Been Served
  • Choosing Not to Respond After You’ve Been Served
  • When to Contact a Civil Litigation Lawyer If You’ve Been Served
  • What Happens After You’ve Been Served Notice of a Lawsuit

 

What Does It Mean to Be Served

While being served can be as simple as being handed legal documents, when you hear the phrase, “You’ve been served,” it typically means that you’ve been served notice of legal proceedings against you. “You’ve been served” usually means that you have been handed notification that you are being sued. The typical packet of documents you will be served with initially contain a civil case cover sheet, a summons, and a complaint.

 

You’ve Been Served 04 - LloydWinter LawReasons You May Get Served

Reasons why you could be served court papers or notices are nearly endless, but some common reasons may include:

 

How to Know if You’ve Been Served with a Lawsuit

If you are unsure whether you have been officially served with a lawsuit, you have two options. The recommended option is to call an attorney who can represent your interests in the lawsuit. An initial consultation with a law firm should be at no charge to you. Attorneys usually charge either an hourly or flat rate to handle a lawsuit defense. It would be rare for an attorney to offer to defend the lawsuit for you on a contingency basis, because the person being sued is not likely to recover any money in the lawsuit.

Alternatively, if you are unable to hire your own attorney, you should contact the attorney of the person who sued you. Their contact information will be in the caption (upper left corner) of the complaint that you’ve been served. The plaintiff’s attorney represents your opponent and does not have your best interests in mind, but if you contact them early on, they may be willing to offer you an extension of time to answer the complaint or assist with early settlement negotiations that may resolve the matter.

 

Responding to Complaint After You’ve Been Served

Generally, you only have 30 days to respond to a complaint once you’ve been served. That time starts to run as soon as you’ve been served the document packet. Your response must be a document that is both filed with the court and served on the plaintiff. Most defendants will file a simple answer to the complaint, either admitting to or denying the allegations in the complaint.

Occasionally, a more in-depth motion like a demurrer will be appropriate. A demurrer makes the argument to the judge that even if everything in the complaint is true, the person filing it still does not have a valid legal argument to win the case.

If you do not file your response in a timely manner or if you file it insufficiently, the plaintiff may ask the court to enter a default against you. This means you missed your window to show up to defend against the complaint and will be precluded from participating in the case. There are mechanisms to ask the court to set aside (aka: remove) a default and let you file a response to the complaint, but there is no guarantee that such a request will be granted.

 

You’ve Been Served 03 - LloydWinter LawChoosing Not to Respond After You’ve Been Served

Sometimes defendants choose to not respond to a complaint because they do not feel the service of process of the complaint documents was proper. Improper service is a basis for asking a court to set aside a default. Keep in mind, that strategy carries risk and can be quite lengthy and expensive. The more efficient response is to retain counsel and/or contact the plaintiff’s attorney to explain that service was improper.

Other times, defendants choose to not respond to a complaint because they feel it has no merit. Lawyers frequently hear protests of, “But they can’t sue me for that!” from clients who have been sued. In general, anyone can sue you for anything. They might not win their lawsuit, but there are very few bars to them bringing it to court. It’s important to realize that if you choose not to respond, then you are waiving your right to defend against it and waiving your right to argue to the judge that it lacks merit.

 

When to Contact a Civil Litigation Lawyer If You’ve Been Served

While lawyers can be appointed to defendants in criminal cases, that’s not true with civil cases. If you’ve been served, contact a civil litigation attorney as soon as possible.

A common mistake that people make after they have been served is waiting until the last minute to seek legal assistance. You should call an attorney immediately after being served.

Law firms typically have mandatory client agreements and retainers that must be completed before they will begin working on your case. They will have other clients to help and may need a couple of weeks or more to adequately prepare your response. Do not assume that any lawyer you call will be able to help you defend yourself against a lawsuit mere days before your answer is due.

Outside of the simplest small claims matter, the process of timely and properly answering a complaint – and thereby avoiding default – can be quite complex. For that reason, it is important that you act promptly once served and, if possible, contact an attorney with civil litigation experience for assistance.

 

What Happens After You’ve Been Served Notice of a Lawsuit

Once you’ve been served notice that a lawsuit has been filed against you and you have secured a civil litigation attorney, your attorney will begin gathering information. Because you are the defendant, your attorney may ask the plaintiff for specific information during this discovery phase. The plaintiff’s attorney may also send a list of their requests to your lawyer. Once both parties have exchanged information, each side has the right to ask questions of one another or of any witnesses to gather more information.

Your attorney will examine your case. They may do one of the following actions on your behalf:

  • File a motion with the court asking that the case be dismissed
  • Negotiate a settlement
  • File a counterclaim

After this, it is possible that one of the parties may ask to settle the case outside of court. If that happens, then the case ends without making it into the courtroom. If a settlement is not reached, the case moves forward.

 

Consult with an Experienced Civil Litigation Attorney

It’s typically best to find an attorney who specializes in the area of law that the lawsuit pertains. If you’ve been served papers and are facing a lawsuit in Texas or California, we may be able to help. LloydWinter, P.C. operates in both California and Texas. As a full-service law firm, LloydWinter attorneys are highly skilled at litigation.

Our firm features legal services including:

If you’ve been served notification that you’ve been named as a defendant in a civil lawsuit, you need a strong attorney capable of fiercely defending you in the courtroom. Contact Lloyd Winter, P.C. today to request a consultation.

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