US · rules
E.D. Va. Local Civil Rule 4
Service and Return of Summons – Abatement
(A) Service and Abatement: If service of a summons and complaint is sought other than under Fed. R.
Civ. P. 4(d) but is not effected, the Marshal or other person responsible for effecting service shall return
the summons and complaint to the Clerk with an endorsement thereon stating the reasons for failure to
effect service.
All waivers of service obtained under Fed. R. Civ. P. 4(d) shall be filed within five (5) days after they are
returned to plaintiff. Unless, within ninety (90) days after the complaint is filed, a defendant has been
served, or has appeared or has waived service, the Clerk shall abate the action and dismiss it without
prejudice as to such defendant(s) after having given, but received no response to, the notice required by
Fed. R. Civ. P. 4(m).
Where the United States, its officers, corporations, or agencies are served by mail pursuant to Fed. R. Civ.
P. 4(i)(1)(A), service shall be effective on the date of the postmark or on the date received if there is no
postmark or it is illegible. The United States Attorney shall file a certificate reporting the postmark and
receipt dates.
(B) Withholding Service: Requests by a party to withhold the service of a summons and complaint, or a
third-party summons and complaint upon parties as to whom waiver of service provisions are inapplicable
shall not be granted by the Clerk without leave of Court first obtained; provided, however, that a party
may request the Clerk to withhold the issuance and service of an in rem process upon advising the Clerk
that the property subject to arrest or attachment is not within the jurisdiction or that arrangements have
been made for the acceptance of service.
(C) Civil Cover Sheet: The Clerk shall require a complete and executed AO Form JS 44(a), Civil Cover
Sheet, to accompany each civil action filed except as to actions filed by prisoners and other litigants
proceeding pro se.
Provenance
- Source
- www.vaed.uscourts.gov
- Retrieved
- 2026-09-18
- Edition
- fed-district-2026-09-18
- Content hash
6758872a3d2e130830bb1b5c9c9cc50700cf89c252a3f99599ce2e4f3a926c20
The link goes to the issuing authority’s own document — the one we read to produce this record. Where a source publishes whole titles rather than sections, your browser may need a moment to jump to the provision.
Unofficial copy of government-published law, reproduced from official sources with full provenance. Not an official publication; verify against official sources before relying on it in a filing. Records in the 'guidance' corpus, and only that corpus, are sub-regulatory (interpretive guidelines, survey procedures) and are not binding law. Validity bounds follow each jurisdiction's declared temporalBasis.