by Bob Incollingo

Since the pandemic, it seems like people do whatever the hell they want.  So, today’s question:

Can you refuse a summons?

Sure, you can refuse a summons, but it won’t make the slightest difference so long as your rights to procedural due process have been met, and the method of service has been reasonably calculated to give you notice of the proceedings against you.¹   

New Jersey Court Rule 4:4-4(a) provides that service of a summons and complaint may be made upon a competent individual of the age of 14 or over, “by delivering a copy of the summons and complaint to the individual personally, or by leaving a copy thereof at the individual's dwelling place or usual place of abode with a competent member of the household of the age of 14 or over then residing therein, or by delivering a copy thereof to a person authorized by appointment or by law to receive service of process on the individual's behalf. ...." There are more specific rules for service of process on a minor under the age of 14, a mentally incapacitated person, a business owner or real property owner, a corporation, and others. ² 

It is generally held that when a summons is offered to someone, he cannot avoid service by refusing physically to accept the summons if he is informed that service of process is being attempted.³  Rejection of legal paperwork is such a commonplace that there is a term used in the business of process serving - “drop service” - which may be noted on the process server’s written proof of service to reflect the generally allowed method of serving someone who has refused to take court documents, by placing them on the ground in front of the individual being served.

And if you don’t open your door all the way?  Such service is valid and can not be avoided by the refusal to open the door and accept the papers, or by denying your true identity. The questions of whether leaving a summons and complaint outside the house was "delivery" to a defendant "personally" or if it was "leaving with" a co-resident for the defendant within the meaning of R.R. 4:4-4(a), have long been resolved.   New Jersey case law going back to the early 1800s - when a great many defendants could not read⁴ - holds that a person within the jurisdiction has an obligation to accept service of process when service is attempted reasonably.  In Slaght v. Robbins, 13 N.J.L. 340 (Sup. Ct. 1833), defendant refused "to remain and hear the summons read to him." The court upheld the service, saying that a defendant cannot take advantage of "his own improper conduct." 13 N.J.L., at p. 341.  Similarly, the court upheld service in Walkoczy v. Bowers, 146 A. 34 (N.J. Sup. Ct. 1929), where defendant closed the door and refused to accept a summons offered to him. 

Scroll forward in time.  In most cases, it is the law that needs to catch up with technology.  On this topic, the technology has caught up.  Today’s process servers employ body cam video to prove service of legal process.⁵  With a video record likely, you should think twice before indulging your inner sovereign citizen.  Not only will your refusal to accept summons and complaint have no effect on the legal sufficiency of the service, your debut in court on video will likely be a very unflattering portrait to place before a judge.

This is the rule: if the process server and the defendant are within speaking distance of each other, and such action is taken as to convince a reasonable person that personal service is being attempted, service cannot be avoided by physically refusing to accept the summons.