SCOA: Summons Stating Incorrect Incarcerated Response Days Invalid Even If No Incarceration

Earls v. Harvest Credit Management VI-B, LLC, 2015 Ark. 175,460 S.W.3d 795 (2015).

The Arkansas Supreme Court held in this case that a summons was invalid for stating incorrectly the number of days in which the defendant would have to respond to summons if defendant was incarcerated.

The summons stated that defendants would have 30 days to respond if incarcerated rather than the correct number of 60.

Appellee argued that the error was immaterial since the defendants were  not incarcerated.

The supreme court disagreed. It held that the strict compliance standard applied to the requirement that summons correctly state the number of days for defendant’s response.