Legal Question in Personal Injury in Washington

Re: Served the wrong person

First,DO NOT IGNORE THE SUMMONS! You should immediately contact the attorney or law firm that had the summons served upon you to clear up this matter. Do not contact the process server, if you even know who it is, because he or she or they can do nothing about it. Make sure that you contact the attorney or law firm within the 20 days, assuming that you were served in Washington State and that the lawsuit is in Washington State, to avoid a default judgment being taken against you. Try and resolve it informally by telephone or in person if possible within that 20 day period. Also, make sure that you get something in writing that the law firm or attorney acknowledges that you are the wrong person. You may have to prove that you are not the intended defendant by providing birthdate, driver's license number or some such similar data to the plaintiff's attorney. However, if you do not get the matter straightened out on your own, you will have to put in a Notice of Appearance before the twenty days runs from the date of service, i.e., not counting the day of service but counting the last day, or 20th one, of the period. Also, remember that if you were not personally served with these papers, but someone who was a resident in your household was served, then the 20 days begins to run from the date that person was served and not from the date you were given the papers by that person or discovered that service method. You may very well need to hire an attorney and with over 21 years of litigation experience, I woul dbe happy to assist you.