Is it legal for a defendants attorney - who has confirmed representation - to refuse service of documents sent to the attornies office?"Our ...

Question

Is it legal for a defendants attorney - who has confirmed representation - to refuse service of documents sent to the attornies office?

"Our firm represents XXX.I am not authorized to accept service for XXX or his businesses. Until Doe or his businesses are properly served, they will not loe appearing in the

Action."

Is this cause for a default judgement?

Answer

You must first have the summons and complaint personally served upon the defendant, individually, and not his/her attorney. Once the attorney responds on the client's behalf, then you should serve everything else on the attorney.

Answer

Mr. Cohen is right. An attorney is only required to accept service for a client if the client has already appeared in the particular case *and* is represented in the case by that attorney. A defendant may agree to let the attorney accept service of other documents, but is not required to. If you and the defendant have not made such an agreement, then your service on the attorney is void.

A plaintiff can only get a default judgment if a properly-served defendant fails to file a timely answer or to challenge the complaint. Since you have not served the defendant, you are not entitled to a default or a default judgment. And unless you do properly serve the defendant, your complaint will eventually be dismissed for lack of service.

You should get a lawyer if at all possible. This is just the first of many times you might jeopardize your case by misunderstanding the applicable laws. Competent counsel will not make those mistakes, and will now how to deal with any other mistakes you may already have made.

Answer

We've answered this before. The party needs to be properly served, not the attorney.