Rule 4.1. Service of Process Within Arizona
Arizona Revised Statutes AnnotatedRules of Civil Procedure for the Superior Courts of Arizona
16 A.R.S. Rules of Civil Procedure, Rule 4.1
Rule 4.1. Service of Process Within Arizona
(1) Requesting a Waiver. An individual, corporation, or association that is subject to service under Rule 4.1(d), (h)(1)-(3), (h)(4)(A), or (i) has a duty to avoid unnecessary expense in serving the summons. To avoid costs, the plaintiff may notify the defendant that an action has been commenced and request that the defendant waive service of a summons. The notice and request must:
(4) Results of Filing a Waiver. When the plaintiff files an executed waiver, proof of service is not required and, except for the additional time in which a defendant may answer or otherwise respond as provided in Rule 4.1(c)(3), these rules apply as if a summons and the pleading being served had been served at the time of filing the waiver.
(f) Serving a Minor Who Has a Guardian or Conservator. If a court has appointed a guardian or conservator for a minor, the minor must be served by serving the guardian or conservator in the manner set forth in Rule 4.1(d) for serving an individual, and separately serving the minor in that same manner.
(g) Serving a Person Adjudicated Incompetent Who Has a Guardian or Conservator. If a court has declared a person to be insane, gravely disabled, incapacitated, or mentally incompetent to manage that person's property and has appointed a guardian or conservator for the person, the person must be served by serving the guardian or conservator in the manner set forth in Rule 4.1(d) for serving an individual, and separately serving the person in that same manner.
(i) Serving a Corporation, Partnership, or Other Unincorporated Association. If a domestic or foreign corporation, partnership, or other unincorporated association has the legal capacity to be sued and has not waived service under Rule 4.1(c), it may be served by delivering a copy of the summons and the pleading being served to a partner, an officer, a managing or general agent, or any other agent authorized by appointment or by law to receive service of process and--if the agent is one authorized by statute and the statute so requires--by also mailing a copy of each to the defendant.
(1) Generally. If a domestic corporation does not have an officer or an agent within Arizona on whom process can be served, the corporation may be served by depositing two copies of the summons and the pleading being served with the Arizona Corporation Commission. Following this procedure constitutes personal service on that corporation.
(2) Evidence. If the sheriff of the county in which the action is pending states in the return that, after diligent search or inquiry, the sheriff has been unable to find an officer or agent of such corporation on whom process may be served, the statement constitutes prima facie evidence that the corporation does not have such an officer or agent in Arizona.
(3) Commission's Responsibilities. The Arizona Corporation Commission must retain one of the copies of the summons and the pleading being served for its records and immediately mail the other copy, postage prepaid, to the corporation or any of the corporation's officers or directors, using any address obtained from the corporation's articles of incorporation, other Corporation Commission records, or any other source.
(2) Notice and Mailing. If the court allows an alternative means of service, the serving party must make a reasonable effort to provide the person being served with actual notice of the action's commencement. In any event, the serving party must mail the summons, the pleading being served, and any court order authorizing an alternative means of service to the last-known business or residential address of the person being served.
(A) Required Affidavit. The party or person making service must prepare, sign and file an affidavit stating the manner and dates of the publication and mailing, and the circumstances warranting service by publication. If no mailing was made because the serving party did not know the current address of the person being served, the affidavit must state that fact.
Credits
Added Sept. 2, 2016, effective Jan. 1, 2017.
Editors' Notes
STATE BAR COMMITTEE NOTE
1991 Amendments to Rule 4.1(l) and 4.1(m)
Even where the conditions specified in the Rule are present, service by publication must also satisfy due process standards of being the best means of notice practicable under the circumstances and reasonably calculated to apprise interested parties of the institution and/or pendency of the proceedings. Mullane v. Central Hanover Bank & Trust Company, 339 U.S. 306, 94 L. Ed. 865 (1950). The party who elects to make service by publication is at risk that the service will be subject to a subsequent successful constitutional challenge. Where the last-known address of the person to be served by publication is outside Arizona, the procedures set forth in Rule 4.2[f] are to be followed. The provision requiring a supplementary mailing of a copy of the summons and of the pleading being served where the person's address is known has been retained, but it is stressed that service by publication on a person whose current address is known is only to be employed where it can be shown that that person is attempting to evade service. While the new Rule retains the provision that only the summons need be published, it adds the requirement that the publication contain a statement as to the manner in which a copy of the pleading being served may be obtained.
[Rule 4.1(m), formerly Rule 4(f)] is former Rule 5(f), the specific provision authorizing service of process by publication upon the unknown heirs of a decedent in certain actions involving real property. The Rule is included here because it deals with service of process at the initiation of the action rather than the service of pleadings and other papers generated during the course of the action. Because, by definition, both the identities and the residences of these heirs, if any, will be unknown, publication under this Rule need only be made in the county where the action is pending.
16 A. R. S. Rules Civ. Proc., Rule 4.1, AZ ST RCP Rule 4.1
Current with amendments received through 11/1/19
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