U.S. Department of Justice Channing D. Phillips United States Attorney District of Columbia Iudicory Coter 1335 Fourth St, NW. Washugion DC. 20530 April 17, 2017 Mr, Harold William Van Allen 351 North Road Hurley, N.Y. 12443 Re: Van Allen v. Roberts, ivil Action No, 17-517-EGS (D.D.C.) Dear Mr. Van Allen: Our Office has recently received a package from you containing a number of documents, some of which appear to have been filed in the above-referenced civil action. Because the outside of the package is labeled “Notice of Service FRCP Rule 4,” the package may have been intended as service of process on our Office. No summons, however, was included in the package, and the Court's electronic civil docket for the above-referenced case indicates ‘that no summonses have been issued. Accordingly, even if the documents in the package are deemed to constitute a complaint, servieeof the package is insufficient to trigger any obligation for the defendants to file a responsive pleading, or take any other action in respect of the case. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 4(o)(1) (“A summons must be served with a copy of the complaint.”). See also Murphy Bros., Inc. v. Michetti Pipe Stringing, Inc., 526 US. 344, 347 (1999) (recognizing the “bedrock principle” that “[aJn individual or entity named as a defendant is not obliged to engage in litigation unless notified of the action and brought under a court's authority by formal process”), In this connection, please note that Fed. R. Civ. P. 4(d)(1), which imposes a duty to avoid unnecessary expenses of serving the summons on “[a}n individual, corporation, or association that is subject to service under Rule 4(e),(f), or (h)" does not apply to service on the United States and its agencies, corporations, officers, and employees, which is governed by Rule 4(i). ‘The defendants in the above-captioned action will be under no obligation to file a responsive pleading until service on our Office has been properly perfected as prescribed by the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(a)(2) & (3). In this connection, Fed. R. Civ. P. 4()(1)(A)G provides that service on the United States Attomey may be accomplished by hhand delivery of the summons and complaint to the United States Attorney or an Assistant United States Attorney or clerical employee designated to receive service on the United StatesAttomey's behalf, In this Office, the United States Attomey has designated the Civil Division’s Docket Clerk(s), Lead Legal Assistant, Supervisory Legal Support Specialist, and such other Civil Division clerical staff as the Supervisory Legal Support Specialist may designate from time to time, as the persons to whom hand delivery of process may be made. Service by hand delivery may be effected at our Office’s Civil Division, which is located on the Fourth Floor of 501 Third Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. Alternatively, Rule 4(i)(1)(A)(ii) permits service to be accomplished by sending the summons and complaint by registered or certified mail addressed to the “Civil Process Clerk” at the Office of the United States Attomey. Please note that sending the package by Priority Mail and addressing the package to the United States Attorney, as you did, does not comply with the Rule, The address that should be used for service by registered or certified mail is: United States Attorney's Office; 555 Fourth Street, NW; Washington, D.C. 20530. Please note that the address for service by mail is different from the address for service by hand, and that those two addresses should not be used interchangeably. When service is made by mail, service will not be perfected until actual receipt by a Civil Process Clerk. See Morse v. Elmira Country Club, 752 F.2d 35, 41 (2d Cir. 1984) (“service was effective where the recipient received the mail and accordingly obtained actual notice”) (emphasis added), For this reason, hand delivery is our preferred means for service of process because, due to safety and security procedures that were put in place following the anthrax attacks in 2001 (also known as Amerithrax from the FBI case name), all mail sent to our Office is initially routed through the main mail room at the Department of Justice, which ean ‘occasionally result in the delay or misrouting of our mail Rule 4(i)(1)(B) requires that a copy of the summons and complaint also be sent by registered of certified mail to the Attomey General of the United States. The mailing address for the Attorney General is 950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW; Washington, D.C. 20530-0001. This Office is not authorized to accept service on behalf of the Attomey Gencral or on behalf of the named defendants, each of whom must be served separately in the manner prescribed by the Rule 4G). Your attention is also directed to Fed. R. Civ. P. 4(c)(2), which specifies that a person who may effect service of a summons and complaint may not be a party to the case. Thus, pro se plaintiffs such as yourself may not effect service of process in their own cases. This prohibition applies to all methods of service, including service by mail. See Smith v. United States, 475 F. Supp. 1, 9 (D.D.C. 2006). This letter is being sent to you as a courtesy for informational purposes only, and is without prejudice to any defenses that the defendants may assert in the above-referenced case, including without limitation immunity from suit, failure to state a claim upon which relief can begranted, insufficient process, insufficient service of process, and failure to complete service in a timely manner. All such defenses are expressly reserved. Sincerely, CHANNING D. PHILLIPS States, y i i By: ~ DANIEL F. VAN HORN Chief, Civil Division