Legal Question in Civil Litigation in Minnesota
process of service
Several years ago I was sued in a small civil matter. The sheriff would not leave the papers with my wife and insisted he hand them to me. However recently i sued someone in small claims court. The sheriff merely left the papers with the mans wife. Has the law changed?
Also, isn't true that if you are served somewhere other than
your home the papers must be presented to you in person?
This question is for Minnesota.
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: process of service
The rules have not changed for many years, not as far as I know. For small claims court, service by mail is usually all you need - so I'm not sure why you bothered using the sheriff for that.
For anything else, personal service is required - that means hand the papers to the person in question - but if you can't find the actual person, they can be served upon a "person of suitable age and discretion" at the usual place of residence of the person who is the target.
In the case where you were being served, the sheriff may not have wanted to serve your wife because he knew you were there - and he was really supposed to serve you if he could.
For small claims court, since you could have used the mail man, maybe the sheriff just wasn't being so careful.
Hope this covered your question.
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