Summonses, Subpoenas, and Other Legal Notices: What to Do
In General
From time to time, university personnel receive official legal documents. Examples include subpoenas requiring the university to produce copies of records in court proceedings, summonses notifying the university that a lawsuit has been commenced against it, notices of bankruptcy, and notices informing the university of its right to participate in consumer class action suits. Such notices are sometimes addressed to the university itself -- the Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System, the legal entity that operates all campuses -- or to individually named officials of the university. In some instances, legal notices are received by mail; in other instances, they may be hand-delivered by a "process server" (such as a constable or deputy sheriff).
In general, you should not accept a summons or subpoena that is addressed to another individual or department, unless that individual or department has specifically authorized you to accept service. If you do not have explicit and specific authority to accept service of a summons or subpoena addressed to another individual or department, you should tell the process server that you do not have authority to accept service of the document, that the document will not be delivered to the individual or department to whom it is addressed, and that the document should be taken to ALS, 361 Bascom Hall, 500 Lincoln Drive, for a determination whether it can be accepted by the university.
If you do receive a summons or subpoena involving university business, please inform ALS immediately, preferably the same day. You should also keep a record of the date, time and method (by hand or mail) by which you received the notice.
Complaints in Federal or State Cases
The Department of Justice has instructed us to remind individuals who may be named defendants in federal or state lawsuits and are served with copies of the summons and complaint in the case NOT to sign the acknowledgment or waiver of service. Instead, the original complaint and the UNSIGNED acknowledgment or waiver should be forwarded immediately to ALS, 361 Bascom Hall. We will forward it to the Attorney General's Office and request representation for the named defendant.
The reason for this is simple. The time for filing an answer to the complaint or some other responsive pleading is very short -- in federal cases, 20 days from service. This time starts to run when the acknowledgment is signed and returned to the court. Since university employee defendants are entitled to representation provided by the Attorney General's Office, and the process for securing such representation takes a few days, it can reduce substantially the amount of time that the assistant attorney general handling the case has to respond if the defendant has signed the acknowledgment or waiver and returned it. If the acknowledgment is not signed and returned until the Attorney General's Office receives it, they have the full 20 days to respond.
Because we are a large, decentralized organization, attorneys representing potential and actual plaintiffs in litigation against the university often contact university faculty and other employees directly at work or home, or even approach them at social or civic events, seeking information or records about the matter in controversy. In some cases, depending upon who the individual so contacted is and whether the individual is a potential defendant and/or may already be represented in the matter, the attorneys' canons of ethics require that any such contact be only through counsel for that individual.
In any event, information provided through such contacts can prove damaging or prejudicial to both the institution and the individual should litigation ensue or sworn testimony be taken. Such information may be used to build a case against the university, and it may have been confidential. Please be reminded that individuals so contacted may refuse to discuss the matter with the attorney making the contact. They may also seek counsel from ALS regarding the matter or whether certain records must be provided. We recommend that any person so contacted either refer the attorney to ALS or let ALS know of the contact so that we can ensure that the university's interests are protected.