Received a summons in mailbox not personally delivered
Is this legal and must I appear for court date ?

Thks

Are you sure that this is a summons? Or is it an Original Notice of Small Claims Case?

I have never experienced regular mail as an option for service of an Original Notice. At best, they normally have to be sent certified mail, and have to be signed for.

Without knowing what State you live in, I can't offer anything other than to call down to the Clerk of Court Office for Civil / Small Claims Division and ask them what qualifies as proof of service of an Original Notice.

If what you actually received was a Summons, and not an Original Notice, I'm not sure what is going on.

Best wishes!

Yes, it some states this is considered OK. The Clerk of Court mails out the summons to you, generally by certified mail. If the mail keeps getting returned to the clerk's office they sometimes just mail it out regular mail. Please appear in Court on the date and time indicated. You just can't play "I didn't get it in the mail" and have that work.

Unless you want a judgment to be entered against you, you will need to answer their complaint in writing as well.

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Originally Posted by jt1073

received a summons in mailbox not personally delivered
is this legal and must i appear for court date ?

Thks

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I can only address NYS - 3 types of service: personal (which is pretty self explanatory), nail and mail (3 good attempts at service followed by "nailing" to door, followed by US mail) or sub service (substitute service on another adult at same residence). It is NOT uncommon for people to claim they never saw the "nailed" papers but did get the mailed copy.

This is NOT true in matrimonial actions, by the way, where service must be personal.

For Small Claims in NYS mail is sufficient, they don't bother with personal service.

Was the summons actually mailed to you or just placed in your mailbox? This could be the "nail" part of "nail and mail."

At any rate - you've got it, I would appear. Easier to protest now than try to set aside later.

Hello again, jt:

It may or may not be legal... But, you know about it, and you're going to have an awfully hard time telling the judge that you were illegally informed... Certainly, your case will not be dropped because of it.

If you don't go, they'll get a default judgment and then your life goes into the toilet. If it were me, I'd be GLAD I found the notice. You should look around here and see the troubles people are having because the never saw a notice.

excon