Rule 4(m) Service Deadline
The 90-day limit to serve each defendant after filing the complaint, what happens when you miss it, and how it interacts with the statute of limitations.
What It Is
Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 4(m) gives you 90 days after filing the complaint to serve each defendant. If a defendant is not served in time, the court must either dismiss the action against that defendant without prejudice or order that service be made within a set time.
Good Cause and Discretion
If you show good cause for the failure, the court must extend the time. Good cause usually means something outside your control: the defendant evaded service, the marshal’s office delayed, or the court itself held up the summons.
Even without good cause, the court has discretion to extend the deadline. Courts often do so when dismissal would leave the plaintiff time-barred, because a dismissal “without prejudice” is really with prejudice once the limitations period has run. Say so in your motion.
Why It Matters in a Section 1983 Case
Two reasons.
The limitations trap. Filing the complaint stops the statute of limitations clock in federal court. Dismissal under Rule 4(m) restarts it as if the case had never been filed. If your two-year period has run in the meantime, you cannot refile.
Relation back. Rule 15(c)(1)(C) measures a new defendant’s notice against the Rule 4(m) period. If you add an officer after the limitations period, the officer must have had notice of the suit within those 90 days for the amendment to relate back.
What to Do
- Track the 90 days from the date the complaint was filed, not the date summons issued.
- If you are proceeding in forma pauperis, the marshal serves for you, but you must give the court correct addresses promptly. Delay on your end is not good cause.
- If the deadline is close, file a motion to extend it before it runs, and state the limitations consequence of dismissal.
- File proof of service for each defendant as soon as it is complete.
See the process step on service of process.