Legal Question in Civil Litigation in Maryland
clarification of service-response
Actually,the service has been stated to have occured,as in the certificate of service,but,in fact,it has not been properly served by any method,personal,substitute,special order or constructive.The processor has lied about the service and has even ammended the certificate to reflect this. Now that the service,by the false certificate,is considered done,how can I quash the summons?In a panic,2 days before the due date for the complaint response,I filed a motion to dismiss. The plaintiffs lawyer was pissed that I even did this as by now you can certainly tell that I do not have representation and cannot afford one( contract matter on real estate..not a simple case).If I file a motion to quash,am I submitting a contradictory motion to the dismissal motion?A hearing has been set for jan and the pissed attny has filed a motion to Motion to Compel and/or for sanctions and a Certificate as to Rule 2-431.
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: clarification of service-response
Since you didn't explain the grounds for the dismissal motion, it's impossible to answer your question about whether a motion to quash would be contradictory. If you weren't properly served and weren't willing to accept service in the manner it was made, you should have started with the motion to quash. It may be too late to file it now.
From your question you seem to realize that you don't really know what you are doing, and especially since you are up against an attorney and it's a complicated case, if you stand to lose a significant amount of money in the case if the other party prevails, you are really being foolish to try and represent yourself.