Litigation

Service of Unsigned Copy of Complaint is Valid Service

By H. William Allen et al.

Jones v. Turner, 2009 Ark. 545.

The plaintiff filed a properly signed complaint with the clerk. The plaintiff timely served a copy of the complaint and summons, but the defendant's copy of the complaint was not signed. The circuit court dismissed the complaint, holding that service was defective because of the missing signature.

The supreme court reversed, stating that Ark. R. Civ. P. 4 has no explicit requirement that the service copy must be signed. Following the strict compliance standard, service in this case was proper.

Full post as published by Arkansas Business Litigation Blog on November 23, 2009 (boomark / email).