Nelson v. Clysdale
- Dulce Foster
- 0:25-cv-01404
- U.S. District Court · District of Minnesota
- 2
In Nelson v. Clysdale, Judge Foster denied Nelson’s alternate-service request without prejudice and directed him to first seek a service waiver.
The ruling directly affects Abel Aaron Nelson’s attempt to serve Sarah Lynn Derry; it denied his requested alternative service without prejudice and required him to first request a waiver of service.
What happened
Nelson v. Clysdale concerns Nelson’s request to serve Sarah Lynn Derry by regular and certified mail after alleged unsuccessful attempts at personal delivery.
Nelson asked the court to authorize mail service and treat it as effective three days later. The court noted that he had not apparently asked Derry to waive formal service.
Judge Foster denied the motion without prejudice and directed Nelson to send Derry a waiver request, warning that Derry could later be responsible for service costs if she refused without good cause.
The detailed version
- Nelson v. Clysdale · No. 0:25-cv-01404
- Dulce J. Foster
- May 30, 2025
Background
Abel Aaron Nelson moved for permission to use an alternative method of serving Sarah Lynn Derry with the summons and complaint. Nelson alleged that Derry had evaded several attempts to personally deliver the documents. He asked to serve her by First-Class U.S. Mail and Certified Mail and to have service become effective three days after mailing.
Nelson relied on Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 4(e)(1), which allows service under the law of the state where the federal court is located or where service is made. The order explains that Minnesota law permits personal service or service by acknowledgment through a waiver-of-service process.
Ruling
The court stated that Nelson had apparently not first sought a waiver of service under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 4(d) and Minnesota Rule of Civil Procedure 4.05. Those rules allow a court to impose service costs on a defendant who, without good cause, fails to sign and return a waiver.
The court declined to authorize alternative service before Nelson exhausted traditional service methods. Judge Dulce J. Foster denied Nelson’s motion without prejudice and directed him to send Derry a waiver of service consistent with Federal Rule 4(d), including a warning about possible service costs. The court stated that it may later impose expenses from reattempted service, as well as reasonable expenses related to a motion needed to collect those expenses, if Derry does not return the waiver.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.