Your Business Was Served With a Lawsuit: First 21 Days

What Should You Do in the First Days After Your Business Is Served?

I suggest writing down how the papers arrived, sending them to your insurers, preserving your records, and calendaring the answer date, because the answer period is already running. In Minnesota a civil action is commenced against your company “when the summons is served upon that defendant” (Minn. R. Civ. P. 3.01(a)), so in an ordinary case the clock starts at delivery, whether or not anything has been filed.

The summons itself tells you what is at stake. Minn. R. Civ. P. 4.01 requires every summons to “state the time within which these rules require the defendant to serve an answer, and notify the defendant that if the defendant fails to do so judgment by default will be rendered against the defendant for the relief demanded in the complaint.”

I suggest these steps in the first days, because each protects an option you may need later:

1. Record the service facts. Note who delivered and who received the papers, in what role, where, on what date, and at what hour, and keep every page and the envelope.
2. Send the papers to every insurer. Each policy that could respond should get the summons and complaint this week, for the reasons in the insurance section below.
3. Stop routine deletion. A written hold to the people and systems involved protects evidence you may need, as the litigation-hold section explains.
4. Calendar the answer date twice. Count it under the rules in the deadline section, and put it on two calendars.
5. Keep a small circle. Anything written about the dispute, inside the company or to the other side, may later be read in court.

Someone once wrote to me about an inactive LLC that a bank had sued. I suggested keeping every page, including the envelope, and writing down the date and how the papers were delivered, because that date may affect the response deadline. I also suggested holding any discussion of the claims with the bank’s attorneys until the owner had advice, because what is said can be used in the case.

How Do You Know Whether Your Business Was Properly Served?

Service on a Minnesota company is valid when the papers reach its registered agent, an officer or manager if no agent has been appointed, or the Secretary of State in the situations Minn. Stat. § 5.25 allows. A corporation may also be served through an officer, managing agent, or other authorized agent under the court rule. Papers delivered some other way may still be valid, because subdivision 8 of § 5.25 does not limit “the right of a person to serve any process, notice, or demand required or permitted by law to be served upon a business entity in another manner.”

The first check is the packet. “A copy of the complaint shall be served with the summons, except when the service is by publication as provided in Rule 4.04” (Minn. R. Civ. P. 3.02). The second check is who received it:

• The statute’s order. Process may be served on “(1) the registered agent, if any; (2) if no agent has been appointed then on an officer, manager, or general partner of the entity; or (3) if no agent, officer, manager, or general partner can be found at the address on file with the secretary of state, the secretary of state as provided in this section” (Minn. Stat. § 5.25, subd. 1).
• Corporations under the court rule. Service may be made “by delivering a copy to an officer or managing agent, or to any other agent authorized expressly or impliedly or designated by statute to receive service of summons” (Minn. R. Civ. P. 4.03(c)).
• LLCs. An appointed agent “is an agent of the company for service of any process, notice, or demand required or permitted by law to be served on the company,” and if the LLC has no agent in Minnesota or the agent cannot with reasonable diligence be found at the agent’s street address, “the secretary of state is an agent of the company upon whom process, notice, or demand may be served” (Minn. Stat. § 322C.0116, subds. 1, 2).

A third check is who delivered the papers: under Minn. R. Civ. P. 4.02, “Unless otherwise ordered by the court, the sheriff or any other person not less than 18 years of age and not a party to the action, may make service of a summons or other process.”

Three facts catch owners off guard:

1. A lapsed company can still be sued. If a business entity “has been involuntarily dissolved or its authority to transact business in this state has been revoked, service must be made according to subdivision 3 or 4,” which means through the Secretary of State (§ 5.25, subd. 5).
2. A stale address produces service you may never see. The Secretary of State must immediately forward the papers by certified mail “in care of the agent of the business entity, at its registered office in this state as it appears in the records of the secretary of state” (§ 5.25, subd. 6). I suggest updating that filing now if it is wrong, because the next lawsuit will be mailed there. The registered agent and registered office rules have their own page.
3. Mail alone is not service of a district court summons. The advisory committee comment to the waiver rule states that it “does not authorize service by mere mailing - it is necessary for the defendant to waive formal service and return the waiver-of-service form” (Minn. R. Civ. P. 4.05, 2018 comment). A mailed request to waive service still calls for a decision, because under Rule 4.05(b), “If a defendant located within the United States fails, without good cause, to sign and return a waiver requested by a plaintiff located within the United States, the court must impose on the defendant: (1) the expenses later incurred in making service; and (2) the reasonable expenses, including attorney’s fees, of any motion required to collect those service expenses.” Conciliation court is different: for a defendant with a Minnesota address on the claim, “the administrator must summon the defendant by first class mail, except that if the claim exceeds $2,500 the summons must be served by the plaintiff by certified mail,” and “Service by mail is complete upon mailing” (Minn. Gen. R. Prac. 508(d)(1), (2), (4)).

A Minnesota lawsuit can exist with no court file at all, because commencement happens on service. The filing rule sits in Minn. R. Civ. P. 5.04(a): “Any action that is not filed with the court within one year of commencement against any party is deemed dismissed with prejudice against all parties unless the parties within that year sign a stipulation to extend the filing period.” I suggest checking the current rule text before relying on that period. A service defect is a defense to raise early, for the reasons in the Rule 12 section below.

How Is the Deadline to Answer Counted in Minnesota?

In an ordinary Minnesota civil case, the answer date comes from Minn. R. Civ. P. 12.01: “Defendant shall serve an answer within 21 days after service of the summons upon that defendant unless the court directs otherwise pursuant to Rule 4.043.” The answer is served on the plaintiff, and each defendant’s period runs from its own service date. I suggest checking the current rule text before you calendar, because rules change.

Count under Minn. R. Civ. P. 6.01(a)(1): “(A) exclude the day of the event that triggers the period,” then “(B) count every day, including intermediate Saturdays, Sundays, and legal holidays,” and “(C) include the last day of the period, but if the last day is a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday, the period continues to run until the end of the next day that is not a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday.” A legal holiday includes “any day that the U.S. mail does not operate” (6.01(d)).

Two details change the count:

1. The mail add-on and late-day service. Under Rule 6.01(e), when “the notice or document is served upon the party by United States Mail, 3 days shall be added to the prescribed period.” Personal service under Rule 4.03 is delivery, not mail, and as the service section explains, mailing alone is not service of a district court summons. Rule 6.01(e) also adds a day for service late in the day: “If service is made by any means other than United States Mail and accomplished after 5:00 p.m. local Minnesota time on the day of service, 1 additional day shall be added to the prescribed period” (6.01(e)).
2. Routes that replace the rule. “A defendant who, before being served with process, timely returns a signed waiver need not serve an answer to the complaint until 60 days after the request was sent to that defendant” (Minn. R. Civ. P. 4.05(c)), and “Waiving service of a summons does not waive any objection to personal jurisdiction or to venue” (4.05(e)). A company served through the Secretary of State “has 30 days from the date of mailing by the secretary of state in which to answer the complaint” (Minn. Stat. § 5.25, subd. 7). In a construction lien foreclosure, the summons must “require each defendant to file an answer to the complaint with the court administrator within 20 days after service on the defendant” (Minn. Stat. § 514.11), which is a filing, not service on the plaintiff. The same section requires that the answer, “in addition to all other matters proper to be pleaded, shall set up any lien claimed by the defendant, and demand the enforcement thereof,” so a contractor or supplier named as a defendant should state its own lien in that answer. An eviction summons instead sets a hearing date, as the opening explains (§ 504B.321, subd. 4). I suggest checking the current text of each rule and statute in this list before relying on its period, because the date the company misses decides whether a default can enter.

I suggest asking for more time before the period ends, because the standard is harder afterward. Under Minn. R. Civ. P. 6.02, the court “for cause shown may, at any time in its discretion, (1) with or without motion or notice order the period enlarged if request therefor is made before the expiration of the period originally prescribed or as extended by a previous order, or (2) upon motion made after the expiration of the specified period permit the act to be done where the failure to act was the result of excusable neglect.” An extension the plaintiff’s attorney agrees to should be in writing, and a court order is the form the rule itself provides.

What Are Your Options Besides Filing an Answer?

You can call the other side’s owner, resolve the dispute as a business matter, hand the defense to your insurer, propose early mediation, defend fully, or, for a company with nothing left to protect, let a default enter. These options can run together, but none of them stops the answer period on its own. Each fits a different situation:

1. An owner-to-owner call. It fits when the lawsuit grows out of a working relationship, such as a disputed invoice or a delivery problem, and both businesses would rather keep trading. It costs little. Minnesota’s ethics rules for lawyers recognize that “Parties to a matter may communicate directly with each other” (Minn. R. Prof. Conduct 4.2, cmt. [4]). The risk is what you say. Under Minn. R. Evid. 408, “Evidence of conduct or statements made in compromise negotiations is likewise not admissible” to prove liability. The rule “does not require the exclusion of any evidence otherwise discoverable merely because it is presented in the course of compromise negotiations,” and the committee comment states that “there must be a genuine dispute as to either validity or amount.” I suggest talking about how the businesses might resolve it, not about who was at fault, because statements of fact outside a genuine compromise discussion can be used in the case.
2. An early business resolution. Paying a valid invoice, a payment plan, a credit on future orders, replacing a product, or fixing the work can end a lawsuit faster and cheaper than defending it. It fits when the claim is largely right or the cost of defense exceeds the amount in dispute. The cost is the payment. The risk is an informal deal that leaves the case pending, so I suggest a written settlement agreement that ends the case, signed before money changes hands. Enforcing a settlement agreement is its own question.
3. Your insurer’s defense. If any policy arguably covers the claim, the insurer may owe you a lawyer at its expense. It is worth checking for every lawsuit, because general liability, employment practices, directors and officers, cyber, and professional liability policies each cover different claims. The cost to you is the policy’s deductible or retention, if any. The risk is waiting, as the next section explains.
4. Early mediation. A neutral mediator helps the parties negotiate before the case grows expensive. Minnesota’s court-annexed mediation rule covers “All civil and family cases,” subject to listed exceptions, and provides that “The parties, after service of the complaint, petition, or motion, shall promptly confer regarding selection and timing of the ADR process and selection of a Neutral” (Minn. Gen. R. Prac. 114.01, 114.04(b)). If the parties cannot agree on a process, “the court shall order the parties to use a non-binding ADR process” (114.04(b)), and the mediator’s “Notes, records, impressions, opinions and recollections” are confidential (114.08(a)). It fits when both sides want out but need a third party to bridge the number. The cost is the mediator’s fee, and “All fees of Neutral(s) for ADR services shall be fair and reasonable” (114.11(a)). The risk is that a proposal made too early, before the facts are known, can set the number in the wrong place. What happens at a mediation is covered separately.
5. A full defense. An answer, any motion, and any counterclaim put the plaintiff to its proof. It fits when the claim is wrong, the amount is inflated, or the case threatens the business. The cost is attorney fees and management time. The risk is that a lawsuit expected to bring closure can keep the dispute going for months.
6. Not responding. For a company that has stopped doing business and has nothing left to protect, letting a default judgment enter can be a deliberate choice. It costs nothing up front. The risk falls on anyone personally liable for the same debt, as the default section explains.

If the other side sent a demand letter before suing, the same options applied then, and demand letters have their own page.

How Does Tendering the Lawsuit to Your Insurer Work?

Tendering means sending the summons and complaint to your insurer and asking it to defend. I suggest sending it to every carrier whose policy could respond, the week you are served, because each insurer has its own duty to defend and the Minnesota Supreme Court has refused to award fees an insured paid before tendering. The court has stated that “each insurer owes its insured an independent duty to defend”.

That statement comes from Wooddale Builders, Inc. v. Maryland Casualty Co., 722 N.W.2d 283 (Minn. 2006), a construction-defect case involving several liability insurers. Citing an earlier decision, the court also explained that “The duty to defend is broader than the duty to indemnify in three ways: (1) the duty to defend extends to every claim that “arguably” falls within the scope of coverage; (2) the duty to defend one claim creates a duty to defend all claims; and (3) the duty to defend exists regardless of the merits of the underlying claims.” A complaint that mixes covered and uncovered claims can therefore still bring a defense of the whole case. The duty to defend and indemnify has its own page.

Timing has a dollar cost. In SCSC Corp. v. Allied Mutual Insurance Co., 536 N.W.2d 305 (Minn. 1995), an environmental-cleanup coverage case, the insurer’s duty to defend arose earlier, but the court held that “SCSC did not invoke this duty until it properly tendered its defense request in the October 6, 1989 letter. We therefore reverse the award of attorney fees that SCSC incurred prior to October 6, 1989.”

Late notice is not always fatal, but the policy’s wording controls:

• “As soon as practicable” policies. Under policies requiring notice as soon as practicable, the Minnesota Supreme Court held “that despite delay in notification the insurers are required to afford coverage under their contracts in the absence of actual prejudice, should liability be otherwise shown according to the terms of the policies,” while noting it was “not holding that in some cases such an extraordinary length of time between an event and notification would not be prejudicial in itself” (Reliance Insurance v. St. Paul Insurance Companies, 239 N.W.2d 922 (Minn. 1976)).
• Condition-precedent policies. Where the policy stated that timely written notice was a condition precedent to coverage, the Court of Appeals held that the insurer “should not be required to make a showing of prejudice,” quoting an earlier decision that “noncompliance with that provision is fatal to recovery” (Cargill, Inc. v. Evanston Insurance Co., 642 N.W.2d 80 (Minn. Ct. App. 2002)). The Evanston policy in that case also required notice “as soon as practicable,” and its condition-precedent wording is why the court required no showing of prejudice. A claims-made policy may carry a reporting condition, so I suggest reading the notice clause in each policy the day you are served.

Your insurance agent or broker can identify every policy in force during the period the complaint describes and send the tender for you.

What Does a Litigation Hold Require Once You Are Sued?

A litigation hold is a written instruction to stop deleting or discarding anything related to the dispute. The duty behind it may have started before the summons arrived: the Minnesota Supreme Court has stated that the duty to preserve evidence arises “whenever a party knows or should know that litigation is reasonably foreseeable” (Miller v. Lankow, 801 N.W.2d 120 (Minn. 2011)), which may have been the demand letter or the first complaint from a customer.

For electronic records, Minn. R. Civ. P. 37.05 applies “If electronically stored information that should have been preserved in the anticipation or conduct of litigation is lost because a party failed to take reasonable steps to preserve it, and it cannot be restored or replaced through additional discovery.” On “finding prejudice to another party from loss of the information,” the court “may order measures no greater than necessary to cure the prejudice,” and “only upon finding that the party acted with the intent to deprive another party of the information’s use in the litigation” may it presume the lost information was unfavorable or “dismiss the action or enter a default judgment.” I suggest suspending email auto-deletion, chat retention limits, and backup recycling for the people and dates involved, because those settings delete information on a schedule without anyone deciding to.

A hold does not freeze the business. In Miller, a homeowner’s mold case, the court held that “a custodial party with a legitimate need to destroy evidence may be absolved of a failure to preserve evidence by providing sufficient notice and a full and fair opportunity to inspect the evidence to a noncustodial party.” If you must repair equipment or a building, written notice and a real chance to inspect should come first.

One exposure sits outside the lawsuit. Under Minn. Stat. § 609.63, subd. 1, “Whoever, with intent to injure or defraud,” “destroys a writing or object to prevent it from being produced at a trial, hearing, or other proceeding authorized by law” is “guilty of forgery.” Guidance on issuing a litigation hold and on civil discovery for business defendants covers the next stages.

How Do You Choose Between an Answer and a Rule 12 Motion?

Your first court paper can be an answer or a motion to dismiss. Minn. R. Civ. P. 12.02 requires every defense to go in the answer, “except that the following defenses may at the option of the pleader be made by motion”: lack of jurisdiction over the subject matter, lack of jurisdiction over the person, insufficiency of process, insufficiency of service of process, failure to state a claim, and failure to join a party under Rule 19.

When the complaint pleads a federal claim, a third first paper is available. Federal district courts “have original jurisdiction of all civil actions arising under the Constitution, laws, or treaties of the United States” (28 U.S.C. § 1331), and “Except as otherwise expressly provided by Act of Congress,” such a case “may be removed by the defendant or the defendants, to the district court of the United States for the district and division embracing the place where such action is pending” (28 U.S.C. § 1441(a)). “The notice of removal of a civil action or proceeding shall be filed within 30 days after the receipt by the defendant, through service or otherwise, of a copy of the initial pleading setting forth the claim for relief upon which such action or proceeding is based, or within 30 days after the service of summons upon the defendant if such initial pleading has then been filed in court and is not required to be served on the defendant, whichever period is shorter” (28 U.S.C. § 1446(b)(1)). I suggest checking the current statute text before relying on that period. The same section adds, “When a civil action is removed solely under section 1441(a), all defendants who have been properly joined and served must join in or consent to the removal of the action” (§ 1446(b)(2)(A)). A case removable only under the federal diversity statute, section 1332(a), “may not be removed if any of the parties in interest properly joined and served as defendants is a citizen of the State in which such action is brought” (§ 1441(b)(2)).

The motion route has three rules worth knowing before you choose it:

1. Timing. “A motion making any of these defenses shall be made before pleading if a further pleading is permitted” (12.02). If “the court denies the motion or postpones its disposition until the trial on the merits, the responsive pleading shall be served within 14 days after service of notice of the court’s action” (12.01). I suggest checking the current rule text for that period, because missing it carries the same default risk as missing the first one.
2. Waiver. “A defense of lack of jurisdiction over the person, insufficiency of process, or insufficiency of service of process is waived (1) if omitted from a motion in the circumstances described in Rule 12.07 , or (2) if it is neither made by motion pursuant to this rule nor included in a responsive pleading or an amendment thereof permitted by Rule 15.01 to be made as a matter of course” (12.08(a)). The Minnesota Supreme Court has held “that a defendant waives the defense of insufficient service of process, even though asserted by answer, by affirmatively invoking the jurisdiction of the district court to obtain partial summary judgment without earlier or simultaneously moving to dismiss the complaint for insufficient service of process” (Patterson v. Wu Family Corp., 608 N.W.2d 863 (Minn. 2000)). Joining defenses costs nothing: “No defense or objection is waived by being joined with one or more defenses or objections in a responsive pleading or motion” (12.02).
3. Attachments can change the motion. On a failure-to-state-a-claim motion, if “matters outside the pleading are presented to and not excluded by the court, the motion shall be treated as one for summary judgment” (12.02). The Minnesota Supreme Court has noted “that a court may consider documents referenced in a complaint without converting the motion to dismiss to one for summary judgment” (Northern States Power Co. v. Minnesota Metropolitan Council, 684 N.W.2d 485 (Minn. 2004)).

I suggest listing every available defense before choosing the motion route, because a defense left out of the first motion can be lost.

Which of Your Own Claims Must Go in the Answer?

A claim against the plaintiff that arises out of the same transaction as the lawsuit must be stated in your answer, and other claims may be. Minn. R. Civ. P. 13.01 provides: “A pleading shall state as a counterclaim any claim which at the time of serving the pleading the pleader has against any opposing party, if it arises out of the transaction that is the subject matter of the opposing party’s claim and does not require for its adjudication the presence of third parties over whom the court cannot acquire jurisdiction, except that such a claim need not be so stated if, at the time the action was commenced, the claim was the subject of another pending action.” Any other claim against the plaintiff is permissive (13.02).

Minnesota reads “transaction” narrowly. The Minnesota Supreme Court held “that the word “transaction” as used in Rule 13.01 does not embrace claims in tort,” so a defendant who leaves a tort claim out of the answer may still sue on it separately (House v. Hanson, 72 N.W.2d 874 (Minn. 1955)). A contract claim arising from the same deal is different. If one is left out, “When a pleader fails to set up a counterclaim through oversight, inadvertence, or excusable neglect, or when justice requires, the pleader may, by leave of court, set up the counterclaim by amendment” (13.06), which means asking permission rather than acting as of right.

A counterclaim is also a business tool. It can change the plaintiff’s view of the case and the settlement number, so I suggest inventorying your own claims in the first weeks, while the answer is being prepared.

Who Can Appear for Your Company in a Minnesota Court?

In district court, a corporation appears through a licensed attorney, and the Minnesota Court of Appeals applies the same rule to an LLC. The Minnesota Supreme Court held that “Generally, a corporation must be represented by a licensed attorney when appearing in court, regardless of whether the person seeking to represent the corporation is a director, officer or shareholder” (Nicollet Restoration, Inc. v. Turnham, 486 N.W.2d 753 (Minn. 1992)). That case involved a corporation whose conciliation-court case was removed to district court. In a later case about two LLCs, the Court of Appeals wrote: “Respondent concedes that this rule extends beyond business corporations and applies to LLCs. We agree” (301 Clifton Place L.L.C. v. 301 Clifton Place Condominium Ass’n, 783 N.W.2d 551 (Minn. Ct. App. 2010)).

A statute now draws narrower lines. “A corporation, partnership, limited liability company, sole proprietorship, or association may be represented in conciliation court by an officer, manager, or partner,” and the same subdivision “also applies to appearances in district court by a corporation or limited liability company with five or fewer shareholders or members and to any condominium, cooperative, or townhouse association, if the action was removed from conciliation court” (Minn. Stat. § 491A.02, subd. 4). Nicollet also states that “legislative enactments which purport to authorize certain classes to practice law in the courts of this state are not controlling upon the judiciary,” and that “Courts will defer to reasonable legislative regulation, but this deference is one of comity or courtesy rather than an acknowledgement of power.” An owner who answers a district court complaint on the company’s behalf outside those lines puts the company at risk: in the LLC case, the Court of Appeals noted that if there had been an objection to the nonattorney representation “and the LLCs had proceeded without counsel, default judgment may have been appropriate.”

Other professionals carry part of the load, at a cost that may be lower than a lawyer’s:

• Your insurance agent or broker finds every policy that might respond and sends the tender.
• Your CPA can estimate the financial exposure, gather the records behind a disputed invoice, and advise how a settlement payment is treated on your books.
• Your IT staff or provider can carry out the litigation hold and suspend automatic deletion.

The personal side matters too. A lawsuit can follow an owner home, and the personal strain of a lawsuit has its own page. I suggest naming one person inside the company to handle the case, so the rest of the team keeps serving customers.

What Happens If Your Business Does Not Respond?

If the answer period passes with no answer or motion, the plaintiff can take a default judgment. Under Minn. R. Civ. P. 55.01, when a party “has failed to plead or otherwise defend within the time allowed therefor by these rules or by statute, and that fact is made to appear by affidavit, judgment by default shall be entered against that party.”

On a claim “upon a contract for the payment of money only,” the court administrator enters judgment “upon request of the plaintiff and upon affidavit of the amount due” (55.01(a)). Other default judgments take an application, because “In all other cases, the party entitled to a judgment by default shall apply to the court therefor” (55.01(b)). Advance notice goes only to a company that appeared: “If a party against whom judgment is sought has appeared in the action, that party shall be served with written notice of the application for judgment at least 14 days prior to the hearing on such application” (55.01(b)). Once docketed, a judgment “is a lien, in the amount unpaid, upon all real property in the county then or thereafter owned by the judgment debtor, but it is not a lien upon registered land unless it is also recorded pursuant to sections 508.63 and 508A.63,” and “The judgment survives, and the lien continues, for ten years after its entry” (Minn. Stat. § 548.09, subd. 1).

A default judgment can be reopened. Relief runs through Minn. R. Civ. P. 60.02, including for “(a) Mistake, inadvertence, surprise, or excusable neglect,” and “The motion shall be made within a reasonable time, and for reasons (a), (b), and (c) not more than one year after the judgment, order, or proceeding was entered or taken.” I suggest checking the current rule text for that period, because a motion filed late can fail on timing alone. “A Rule 60.02 motion does not affect the finality of a judgment or suspend its operation,” so collection can continue while the motion is pending. In a 1964 case where the defendant’s attorney had failed to answer, the Minnesota Supreme Court called it “a cardinal rule” that the court “should relieve a defendant from the consequences of his attorney’s neglect in those cases where defendant,” quoting an earlier decision, “(a) is possessed of a reasonable defense on the merits, (b) has a reasonable excuse for his failure or neglect to answer, (c) has acted with due diligence after notice of the entry of judgment, and (d) [shows] that no substantial prejudice will result to the other party” (Finden v. Klaas, 128 N.W.2d 748 (Minn. 1964)). The court added that relief could be conditioned on the defendant paying “costs and disbursements, including a reasonable attorney’s fee.” The court later explained that a district court “does not have unfettered discretion to deny relief when the movant has met his burden of establishing all four Finden requirements” (Gams v. Houghton, 884 N.W.2d 611 (Minn. 2016)). Gams ties that test to Rule 60.02(a): the district court “must consider, and expressly find that a party satisfied,” all four Finden factors “in order to” grant relief “under Rule 60.02(a).” Rule 60.02 lists a separate ground, “(d) The judgment is void,” and the outer limit quoted above reaches only “reasons (a), (b), and (c).” The related question of an answer served late, before any judgment, has its own page.

Choosing not to respond is a real option in a narrow case. In the exchange about the inactive LLC described above, the summons said the LLC did not need to respond if it did not want to contest the claims, and a default judgment could then be entered for what the complaint asked. The owner had signed a personal guaranty, so I suggested asking how a judgment against the LLC would affect the owner personally before choosing that path.

Your Next Step

The first days after service set up every later choice: valid service, the right answer date, the insurer’s defense, preserved records, and the defenses that must be raised early. With those in place, you can decide between a call, a settlement, mediation, or a defense on your own timeline, inside the answer period. My business litigation page describes how I defend Minnesota companies. If your company has been served and you would like to know your options on your facts, email [email protected] with a brief description, and I can start an intake and conflict check before you send any confidential documents.