How does suing someone work? Does the person getting sued have papers served to them?

The reason I’m asking is my friend is getting sued. He got a notice to pickup at the post office. What if he doesn’t pick it up? Will a cop or sherriff be sent to serve court papers?

When I had to sue someone, the papers were served by a deputy sheriff. It took quite a while as they are busy with their regular duties and only serve papers when there is down time.
Serving through the post office was not an option when I was suing.

When you sue someone, your attorney files a complaint with the court and it is served on the defendant.

A registered process server must serve the papers, but if your friend signs the papers, it’s proof she herself received the papers through the post office. She does not have to sign anything if she doesn’t want to.

Serving at a post office is tricky. There are so many ways to fight the service. But, if she doesn’t pick it up and the attorney is able to get a default judgment, she will have to not only fight the original complaint, but also the default judgment.

I was given a little card by a policeman (maybe a sheriff deputy?) Saying I had to go take the card to some office at the court house. When I got there, they had me sign something and handed me the papers. I asked does this mean I am being sued? It took a while to register.

Of course I turned it all over to my insurance company, who had people there to help me. Does your friend have insurance?

If she has insurance tell her to be calm, she will be ok. She needs to get the papers and send copies to her insurance. If she doesn’t go to court though, first the person will win by default. If she gets subpeonaed and doesn’t show up she can get a failure to appear charge. You don’t go to jail in this country for owing money but you do go to jail for contempt of court or failure to appear. It is really important to deal with these things head on even if they are scary.

If she has no insurance and she cannot pay, she can fight the complaint in court (what the heck, it’s worth a try.) and when the judge talks about payment I have heard people can show their pay checks and how much they earn and set up a payment plan. I mean you can’t get blood from a turnip. As long as she shows up in court, doesn’t commit perjury and does whatever is asked by the judge, she will be ok. She doesn’t want a contempt of court or failure to appear charge. That just makes things go from not a big deal to a huge deal. I also hear that in some cases you can file bankruptcy. I’m not sure about that. I would definitely speak to a lawyer about it.

Welcome to America. It’s bad here. Have insurance.

Are you still in California? If so I think this has information you need.

It says that they can take property and up to 25 percent of your paychecks until the debt is paid, but that some property is exempt and bankruptcy is sometimes a possibility.

Serving civil papers in my state is only legal with a deputy sheriff or process server in person. the post office does not work here and rightly so.