I've been given a 'summons' by a woman who is harrassing me.

Question

The 'summons' was a personal email sent 2 days before the supposed civil court date. I live in CA and summons need to be sent 3 official ways, (not by email) and 15 days before the date. She did try to make it look official but I checked the court's summons rules online.

This has to be illegal! Is it??

Thanks!

Answer 1

The summons has to come from the court,  not the woman.  

Print out the e-mail with all the heading information and take it to your lawyer.  Do not erase it off your computer.  You lawyer can present it as evidence in court to show the judge just another way she has been harassing you.  

Then let the judge deal with it.  They usually get pretty pissed when their prerogative's get stepped on.    

Answer 2

If you mean, can she be fined or put in jail, no, it was not illegal. It was a violation of the rules of procedure, and you did not have to appear in court.

No sanctions can be imposed on you for failing to appear.

Answer 3

Not illegal, in the sense of a crime committed, but not legal service on you either.

Your choices:  1)  Ignore the summons.  If she files a proof of service that says you were served by email 2 days before the hearing, the court will not find that to be valid service.  But if she lies about it and claims she served you in a proper way, the court may enter a judgment against you without you being there.

2)  Go to the hearing and tell the judge that you were not properly served and have had no time to answer the complaint.  The judge will take it from there.

The facts you provide here are screwy in more ways than one.  Generally, civil cases are started by filing a complaint and serving it on the defendant, who has 30 days (not 15) to answer.  (Evictions have a 5 day answer period).  The first "court date" is usually a case management conference that takes place 60 to 90 days after the complaint is filed.  At that conference, a plaintiff can run into trouble with the judge if the complaint has not been served on the defendant.  In some situations, a case can be dismissed for failure to serve the defendant and move the case forward.

This may be her effort to stay out of hot water at the hearing.

Answer 4

as a ca licensed process server i can assure you it is not legal. a summons must be served and the proof of service must be filed in the court no later than 10 days prior to the court date. if people could serve via email i would be out of a job.

Answer 5

Yes, what she did is not considered a summons if she served it to you by email.  I'd make sure to print it out though and bring it to court and show the court that she is harassing you.

Maybe file a police report for harassment by the lady.  It should be considered illegal if she made the document up & emailed it to you. Could be considered fraud.

Answer 6

Yeah, illegal. If you get a summons it will be hand delivered or certified mail.