THE COURTS

Title 231—RULES OF
CIVIL PROCEDURE

PART I. GENERAL

[ 231 PA. CODE CHS. 400 AND 1000 ]

Order Amending Rules 401 and 1008 of the Pennsylvania Rules of Civil Procedure; No. 700 Civil Procedural Rules Doc.

[50 Pa.B. 199]
[Saturday, January 11, 2020]

Order

Per Curiam

 And Now, this 18th day of December, 2019, upon the recommendation of the Civil Procedural Rules Committee; the proposal having been published for public comment at 48 Pa.B. 4959 (August 18, 2018):

 It is Ordered pursuant to Article V, Section 10 of the Constitution of Pennsylvania that Rules 401 and 1008 of the Pennsylvania Rules of Civil Procedure are amended in the following form.

 This Order shall be processed in accordance with Pa.R.J.A. No. 103(b), and shall be effective April 1, 2020.

Annex A

TITLE 231. RULES OF CIVIL PROCEDURE

PART I. GENERAL

CHAPTER 400. SERVICE OF ORIGINAL PROCESS

SERVICE GENERALLY

Rule 401. Time for Service. Reissuance, Reinstatement, and Substitution of Original Process. [Copies for Service.]

 (a) Original process shall be served within the Commonwealth within [thirty] 30 days after the issuance of the writ or the filing of the complaint.

 Official Note: See Rule 404 for the time for service outside the Commonwealth.

 (b)(1) If service within the Commonwealth is not made within the time prescribed by subdivision (a) of this rule or outside the Commonwealth within the time prescribed by Rule 404, the prothonotary upon praecipe and upon presentation of the original process, shall continue its validity by reissuing the writ or reinstating the complaint, by writing thereon ''reissued'' in the case of a writ or ''reinstated'' in the case of a complaint.

 (2) A writ may be reissued or a complaint reinstated at any time and any number of times. A new party defendant may be named in a reissued writ or a reinstated complaint.

 (3) A substituted writ may be issued or a substituted complaint filed upon praecipe stating that the former writ or complaint has been lost or destroyed.

 (4) A reissued, reinstated, or substituted writ or complaint shall be served within the applicable time prescribed by subdivision (a) of this rule or by Rule 404 after reissuance, reinstatement, or substitution.

 (5) If an action is commenced by writ of summons and a complaint is thereafter filed, the plaintiff, instead of reissuing the writ, may treat the complaint as alternative original process and as the equivalent for all purposes of a reissued writ, reissued as of the date of the filing of the complaint. Thereafter the writ may be reissued, or the complaint may be reinstated as the equivalent of a reissuance of the writ, and the plaintiff may use either the reissued writ or the reinstated complaint as alternative original process.

 Official Note: If the applicable time has passed after the issuance of the writ or the filing of the complaint, the writ must be reissued or the complaint reinstated to be effective as process. Filing or reinstatement or substitution of a complaint which is used as alternative process under this subdivision, has been held effective in tolling the statute of limitations as the reissuance or substitution of a writ.

 [(c) The copy of the original process to be served upon the defendant shall be attested by the prothonotary or certified by the plaintiff to be a true copy.]

CHAPTER 1000. ACTIONS

Subchapter A. CIVIL ACTION

VENUE AND PROCESS

Rule 1008. [Copies for Service.] (Rescinded.)

 [Official Note: For the requirement of attested or certified copies for service, see Rule 401(c).]

Explanatory Comment

 The Supreme Court has rescinded Rule 401(c), which requires the prothonotary to attest or the plaintiff to certify that a copy of the original process to be served on the defendant is a true copy. Originally adopted in 1946 as part of former Rule 1008, the attestation or certification provided a mechanism to ensure that the copy of original process to be served had been authenticated as a true copy in a time when reproduction of documents was more labor-intensive and prone to error. Today, the requirement is anachronistic given modern methods of document reproduction that easily permit exact copies. The note to rescinded Rule 1008 cross-referencing Rule 401(c) has also been deleted.

By the Civil Procedural
Rules Committee

JOHN J. HARE, 
Chair

[Pa.B. Doc. No. 20-38. Filed for public inspection January 10, 2020, 9:00 a.m.]

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