Opinion ID: 1998340
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: did the trial court obtain personal jurisdiction over zelmer and zelmer, inc. to enter a default judgment against them?

Text: Summonses shall be served by delivering a copy thereof. SDCL 15-6-4(d). SDCL 15-6-4(c) [] provided the county's sheriff or deputy, or constable, or a person who is an elector of the county may make service of summonses. Bolks claims to be a Special Deputy Sheriff of Minnehaha County. There is no such office. See SDCL ch. 7-12. She is simply a resident of Minnehaha County who is employed by Express Attorney Services, a firm that serves documents at the request of lawyers. She was not a party to the action between Mueller and Zelmer. Thus, because she was not a resident of Lincoln County where the documents were to be served, she did not have the authority to serve process in Lincoln County under SDCL 15-6-4(d). Muellers contend Zelmer's signed admissions of service constitute service and are sufficient to grant personal jurisdiction. Zelmer and Zelmer, Inc. contend the admissions of service are nothing more than a receipt, that they were not in the statutory form prescribed by SDCL 15-6-4(j) and, as a result, were ineffective to commence the action and subject them to the court's jurisdiction. That statute has no application to this case, however, as it deals only with the form of notice and admission of service by mail. When there is personal service: Proof of the service of the summons and complaint or of any pleading, process, or other paper must state the time, place, and manner of such service or of publication and mailing and must be made as follows: