§ 16-58-120 — Method of service - Resident and nonresident defendants out of state - Secretary of State agent

Arkansas § 16-58-120

• Jurisdiction: Arkansas
• Title: 16

Text

(a) Any cause of action arising out of acts done in this state by an individual in this state or by an agent or servant in this state of a foreign corporation may be sued upon in this state, although the defendant has left this state, by process served upon or mailed to the individual or corporation outside the state. (b) (1) Any resident or nonresident person who commits acts in this state sufficient to give an individual in this state a cause of action against the person committing the acts shall have deemed to have appointed the Secretary of State as his or her agent for service of process on him or her in any suit arising out of the acts committed by said resident or nonresident. (2) (A) Service of the process shall be made by: (i) Serving three (3) copies of the process on the Secretary of State; (ii) Notifying the Secretary of State that service is being effected pursuant to this subsection; and (iii) Paying the Secretary of State the sum of twenty-five dollars ($25.00). (B) Such service shall be sufficient service upon the nonresident person or any resident person who has subsequently absented himself or herself physically from the state or upon the executor, administrator, or other legal representative of his or her estate, in case he or she has since died, if notice of the service and a copy of the process are forthwith sent by certified mail by the plaintiff or his or her attorney to the defendant at his or her last known address or to the administrator, executor, or other legal representative of the estate in case the person has died, and the defendant's return receipt or the return receipt of the administrator, executor, or other legal representative of the estate of the deceased person is attached to the writ of process and entered and filed in the office of the clerk of the court in which such cases are brought. (3) The court in which the action is pending may order some continuance as may be necessary to afford the defendant reasonable opportunity to defend the act. (4) The Secretary of State, upon receiving a copy of the service of summons, shall also forthwith mail a copy of the summons, together with a copy of the complaint, by first-class mail to the last and best known address of the named defendant in the suit, notifying him or her of the filing of the suit. (c) A defendant so summoned shall have thirty (30) days in which to answer after service upon him or her. (d) The provisions of this section shall not apply to a corporation that has an agent for service of process registered with the Secretary of State.

Legislative History

Acts 1963, No. 119, §§ 1, 2; 1983, No. 167, § 1; A.S.A. 1947, §§ 27-339.1, 27-339.2; Acts 1997, No. 1213, § 1.